Cruise ships drive 55% of Ísafjörður’s summer foreign card spending

Cruise ship calls accounted for 55% of foreign card spending in Ísafjörður over the summer, according to an analysis by payment company Teya reported by mbl.is.

The analysis covered foreign card transactions at Teya merchants from April 20 to September 16 and more than 1,900 cruise ship calls in the summers of 2025 and 2026. Spending on days with ships in port was compared with the same weekdays without a ship.

A cruise ship was in Ísafjörður on about six days out of every 10 this summer. Teya estimates that 55% of the summer’s foreign card spending in the town would not have taken place without the ship calls. An average of 328 foreign cards were used on a cruise ship day, compared with 63 on a day without a ship. The average transaction remained roughly the same, at about ISK 4,900.

The effect was especially strong for gift shops in smaller port towns, where turnover on cruise ship days was about 12 times the level on ordinary days. Average transaction values changed little.

Card spending rose most in the morning. Between 9 and 11 a.m., it was about twice the usual level and peaked at 10 a.m. By about 4 p.m., spending had returned close to normal.

The impact varied between ports. Teya attributed 15% to 18% of summer foreign card spending in Vestmannaeyjar, Seyðisfjörður and Grundarfjörður to cruise ship calls, compared with 11% in Akureyri and less than 10% in Húsavík and Djúpivogur.

Passenger spending also extended beyond port towns. In Grundarfjörður, 70% of the increase on ship days took place outside the town, including in Stykkishólmur and Ólafsvík. Teya estimates that looking only at port towns understates the impact of cruise passengers by 40%.

The analysis covers only card transactions processed through Teya terminals. It excludes cash, purchases on board and excursions sold directly by cruise companies.