Missing the Brits this winter

Rannveig Grétarsdóttir, owner of the whale watching company Elding in Reykjavík, says she expects visitor numbers for whale watching tours this year to be similar to last year, when the number of tourists declined somewhat.

Grétarsdóttir notes a particularly noticeable drop in British tourists this spring. According to data from Business Iceland (Íslandsstofa), arrivals from the UK decreased by around 40%.

“We’re seeing some decline, with numbers similar to what we saw between 2016 and 2018. There hasn’t been any significant growth this year. The season got off to a slow start, and there were definitely fewer bookings this winter compared to previous years. What we were really missing were the Brits,” Grétarsdóttir says.

“On the other hand, the weather has been good lately, and we’ve had unusually successful sightings of whales—so we can’t complain at the moment,” she adds.

Plenty of Humpbacks and Minke Whales

Freyr Antonsson, owner of Arctic Seatours in Dalvík, echoes Rannveig’s comments about the winter, but says that this summer’s turnout has been solid.

“We’ve been quite satisfied. June has been steady and consistent, though there haven’t been any booking surges,” Antonsson tells mbl.is.

“As for the whales, it’s been fantastic—we’ve witnessed some truly spectacular sights. In the spring, we mostly saw sperm whales and orcas, but lately we’ve been spotting more minke whales and porpoises,” he adds.