Tourism as proportion of GDP amounted to 6.7% in 2015. Tourism share of GDP grew by 5.6% in 2014 and 4.9% in 2013. The growth rate of tourism, measured as the increase in proportion of GDP between years, was greater in the year 2015 than in earlier years. The growth rate has increased each year since 2011.
Preliminary estimates for the tourism proportion of GDP for the year 2016 will be published 4 October.
Tourism proportion of GDP compared to other groups of industries in 2015
When comparing tourism to other industries’ share of GDP, one must bear in mind that tourism does not exist as an industry in standard industrial classification. Instead, tourism as an industry is assembled from a proportion of activities of multiple other industries.
Tourism consumption was close to 400 billion ISK in 2015
Total tourism consumption in Iceland was close to 400 billion ISK in the year 2015. Tourism consumption was 22% higher than in 2014, in each year prices. The greatest increase was in the consumption by inbound tourists, or 33% compared to the previous year. In 2016, inbound tourists spent 360 billion ISK in Iceland, an increase of 36.7% from the previous year in each year’s prices. In comparison to consumption by inbound tourists, consumption by domestic tourists increased at a lesser pace, or by 5.3% in 2015.
| Table 1. Tourism consumption in Iceland 2009–2016 in each year prices | ||||||||
| Billion ISK | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| Internal tourism consumption, total | 168.1 | 173.2 | 205.2 | 245.5 | 279.8 | 324.4 | 396.9 | … |
| Inbound tourism consumption | 92.8 | 90.5 | 112.8 | 137.5 | 165.9 | 197.3 | 263.2 | 359.8 |
| Domestic tourism consumption | 60.9 | 67.0 | 74.4 | 88.1 | 92.4 | 105.6 | 111.1 | … |
| Other components of tourism consumption¹ | 14.4 | 15.7 | 17.9 | 20.0 | 21.6 | 21.6 | 22.5 | … |
| ¹ Imputed rental of summerhouses and employers’ expenses for business trips of their employees. | ||||||||
The total number of inbound tourists grew by 36% in the year 2016 compared to a growth of 27% in 2015. In 2016 the estimated total number of tourists was 2,159,390 of which 367,459 were excursionists on cruise ships and 1,791,931 were overnight visitors.