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Keflavík Airport sees decrease in foreign passengers, according to Travel Bureau data

Saturday 13th 2024 on 23:20 in  
Iceland

The number of foreign passengers that flew from Keflavík Airport in June was only three times higher in the last twelve years, according to the Travel Bureau. There was a decrease of nine percent from June last year, which was a record month, along with June 2018.

The number of foreign passengers departing from Leifur Station in June declined by nine percent from June of the previous year according to the Travel Bureau. This decrease, however, is only half the rate compared to 2019 when the decline was 17 percent from 2018.

Recently, it has been reported that the number of tourists has decreased, fewer cars are being rented, hotel bookings have contracted, and more needs to be invested in marketing Iceland. Overnight stays of foreign tourists in May were 18 percent fewer than in May last year according to provisional figures from the Bureau of Statistics. The decline of foreign tourists in hotel accommodation was much smaller in May or 9 percent compared to May of the previous year. Registered overnight stays of foreign tourists were 478 thousand in May. Overnight is independent of the number of people staying in each unit, whether it is a hotel room, apartment, guesthouse, pleasure cruise, tent, or camper.

Another measure of the number of tourists is how many go through Keflavik Airport. Isavia and the airlines Play and Icelandair published passenger figures for June last week and overall they increased from June last year.

At first glance, the flight companies’ and Isavia’s figures do not seem comparable at all. For example, connecting passengers increased by 35 thousand in June from the previous year according to Isavia and were 312 thousand. On the other hand, the combined figures of Icelandair and Play are nearly 18 thousand more than Isavia’s. Then there are countless connecting passengers with other airlines. The explanation for this is that Isavia only counts those connecting passengers who do not leave the airport but go directly to another flight. Icelandair had more than three times as many connecting passengers as Play in June. Icelandair has long offered connecting passengers to stop in Iceland and then continue their flight to Europe or America. Thus, Icelandair’s connecting passengers can stop for seven nights in Iceland. They are therefore tourists in the local tourism industry even though Icelandair defines them as connecting passengers.

It is impossible to compare the figures due to different definitions. And then these figures do not distinguish between Icelanders and citizens of other countries.