Icelanders Less Favourable, More Neutral Towards Tourists

A new poll from Market and Media Research shows that the majority of Icelanders still view tourists favourably, albeit in lower numbers than years previous. Those who are neutral on the subject have increased.

In 2015, 80% of Icelanders said they viewed tourists in Iceland favourably, but today that figure is closer to 64%. During the same period of time, neutral opinions of tourists went from 12.5% to 25.5%. Those with a favourable opinion went from 7.5% in 2015 to 11.5% last year, only to decline again this year, to 10.4%.

In terms of demographics, more men than women viewed tourists favourably, and capital area Icelanders were more likely than rural Icelanders to have a positive outlook. A favourable opinion of tourists was also directly correlated with income level, with richer Icelanders being more positive towards tourists than low income-earners.

Politically, no one was more positively-oriented towards tourists than Bright Future voters, 86.2% of whom said they viewed tourists favourably while statistically none of them were negative. At the same time, the Progressives were the most negative, at 22.7%, with the least amount of favourability, or 47.6%.