Half of all Iceland tourists support an arrival tax
Photo: Ómar Óskarsson
47% of tourists visiting Iceland would be prepared to pay an ‘arrival tax’ on top of their air or ship fare, according to a new university study.
311 passengers from fourteen nations in the departure lounge of Iceland’s Keflavík Airport (KEF) were asked whether they would be happy to see an extra fee added to their fare to visit Iceland – and if so, how much they were prepared to pay.
The survey was conducted by business student Anna Jónsdóttir, whose study also looked into the attitudes of Icelandic tourism operators towards such a tax.
Photo: Icelandair/Sigurgeir Sigurðsson
Just under half of respondents (47%) said they would be happy to pay a bit extra on the fare to Iceland. Of these, 66% said they would be happy to pay €5-10.
This went down to just over half when the ante was upped to €10-15, while just 2% would be prepared to pay over €20.
“It is therefore clear that a slim majority does not want to pay, and those that are prepared to mostly want to pay only a minimal amount,” concludes Jónsdóttir.
That said, the author was not surprised to see that the number of those happy to pay more was as high as it was. “There is great awareness worldwide about environmental issues and such fees are common in many other countries.”
Anna Jónsdóttir.
