Australians Happiest of Tourists

Australians were the happiest group of tourists in Iceland in June, according to the so-called Tourist Pulse, a cooperative project between Gallup, Isavia and the Icelandic Tourist Board. They gave Iceland 89.2 out of 100 points, when rating how pleased they were with their visit. The overall rating, provided by the Pulse, went up by 1.7 points from June of last year, to reach 83.4 points.

Tourists rate five categories: their general pleasure with the trip, how likely they are to recommend Iceland as a destination, their impression of Icelandic hospitality, whether the trip fulfilled their expectations, and whether it was their money’s worth.

Canadian tourists gave the second highest rating, or 85.4 points. British visitors, however, were the least pleased, giving a rating of only 80.6 points.

The category to receive the highest rating in June was how likely tourists were to recommend Iceland as a destination, or 89.2 points, while their evaluation of whether the trip was their money’s worth received only 78.2 points.

A notable change over the summer months is that foreign tourists tend to stay longer in the country than they did earlier in the year. The ratio of those who stayed five nights or more increased from 55 to 65 percent from the previous month. Those who stay that long are generally happier with their stay than are those whose stay is shorter.