Words by

Andie Sophia Fontaine

Photo by

Raffaele Piano

There will be 29% more tourists in Iceland this year than there were last year, Íslandsbanki bank predicts.

According to their predictions, released in a new report, 1.6 million tourists are due to visit Iceland in 2016. This is the equivalent of about 30,000 tourists per day.

290 new hotel rooms are due to open on the market this year, but this is not expected to be able to meet demand. However, RÚV reports that about a fifth of tourists to Iceland use AirBnB instead of booking a hotel room, which may relieve some of the pressure on the demand.

Tourism is proving to be a key element in the Icelandic economy. Approximately one in three jobs created from 2010 to 2015 are connected to the tourism industry in some way.