Americans Beat Brits As Top Tourists To Iceland

Americans have finally made it to the top spot in terms of sheer numbers of tourists to Iceland.

According to data compiled by Promote Iceland, RÚV reports, British tourists have almost always been traditionally the most numerous in Iceland. That all changed last year, however, when Americans overtook the top position.

In all, about 243,000 Americans visited Iceland last year, showing an increase of about 6%. At the same time, about 240,000 Brits came to our fair shores. Combined, they comprise about 40% of all the tourists in Iceland last year.

Trailing behind the Americans and Brits were Germans, French, Norwegians and Danes. However, Chinese tourists, who numbered some 48,000 last year, showed an increase in numbers of 83% from the year previous.

British tourists can take some solace in knowing they still outpace everyone else when it comes to visiting Iceland in the off-season. 200,000 Brits visited Iceland during this time, compared to about 136,000 Americans.