Tourists in Quarantine Not Welcome at Some Hotels in Iceland

A number of tourists arrived at the Fosshótel quarantine facility on Þórunnartún, Reykjavík, yesterday, asking for accommodation without having pre-registered. “It appears that not all hotels are willing to receive guests who will be spending five days in quarantine,” Gylfi Þór Þorsteinsson, director of quarantine facilities, tells mbl.is.

Since Monday, travelers from high-risk COVID-19 areas are no longer required to spend quarantine at an official quarantine facility. Still, 62 guests checked in at Fosshótel yesterday.

At present, 320 guests are staying at Fosshótel, Þórunnartún, and 25 at the quarantine facility in Egilsstaðir, East Iceland.

“Right now, the guests who arrive just show up, without having registered through the border control system as used to be the case,” Gylfi states. He adds that passengers from Poland increasingly choose not to spend quarantine at Fosshótel. Most likely, many of them reside in Iceland and, therefore, have a place to stay.

A total of 17 flights arrived at Keflavík International Airport yesterday. Most of the morning flights came from the US, carrying vaccinated passengers who do not need to quarantine, but the evening flights were from Europe – two of them from Poland.

Gylfi states it takes much longer for guests to check in if they haven’t pre-registered. Pre-registration makes disease prevention easier as well.

Tourists who are neither vaccinated nor able to present a certificate of prior infection are required to be tested twice for COVID-19 in Iceland – first upon arrival, followed by five days in quarantine, and a second test thereafter.

For further information, see covid.is.