British media wrongly claim Iceland’s tourism “bubble” has burst
The Telegraph published its coverage this morning, followed shortly after by the Daily Mail. Composite image/Screenshot/mbl.is/Ómar Óskarsson
“How Iceland’s tourism bubble finally burst.”
That was the headline in The Telegraph’s article on Sunday, followed the next day by the Daily Mail, which declared:
“Why tourists are turning their backs on Iceland as its travel industry collapses and a low-cost airline goes bust.”
However, the claims made by both outlets are based on incorrect—or entirely absent—data.
The fall of Play
The Daily Mail suggests that visitors have stopped flocking to the land of fire and ice following the collapse of Play Airlines.
It points out that this is the second time in six years that an Icelandic budget airline has gone under, recalling the meteoric rise in Iceland’s popularity during the 2010s, spurred by the Eyjafjallajökull eruption and the Game of Thrones series.
“The fall of Play comes only six years after the similar collapse of Wow Air in 2019, which stranded 4,000 passengers,” writes The Telegraph.
“Both airlines shared remarkably similar business models, attempting to capitalize on Iceland’s unique location in the middle of the Atlantic to offer cheap transatlantic flights between Europe and North America,” it continues.
The Telegraph claims that people increasingly appear to be having second thoughts about traveling to Iceland. mbl.is/Kristinn Magnússon
“Falling demand”?
The article questions why the model failed:
“The truth is that low-cost aviation is a notoriously difficult business. But it likely didn’t help that both airlines bet everything on one factor—demand for cheap flights to Iceland itself.”
While acknowledging Iceland’s beauty, the writer adds condescendingly:
“If you’ve been fooled by influencers into thinking every person on Earth went to Iceland this summer, I’m afraid real-world data suggests otherwise.”
Here are the numbers of tourists in Iceland, in 2024 and 2025 (January-August 2025) The Blue colour shows actual numbers in millions, and the gray is projected numbers. Information from the Icelandic Tourist Board.
Tourist numbers are actually rising
According to The Telegraph, Icelandic tourism officials recently said that the number of foreign visitors fell by six percent last year—a claim that cannot be traced to any source.
In reality, data from the Icelandic Tourist Board shows that the number of visitors rose by 2.2% in 2024 compared with 2023, with further growth forecast this year.
The same data shows continued increases month over month:
- +0.49% in September
- +10.61% in August
- +9.11% in July
Misreading the trend
The British paper further claims that visitor numbers in 2023 “were still below pre-pandemic levels” and cites supposed “declining demand” from Iceland’s two largest markets—the UK and the United States.
In fact, arrivals from both countries remain strong and continue to make up nearly half of all international visitors.
While The Telegraph speculates that tourists are “having second thoughts” about visiting Iceland, the data suggests the opposite: Icelandic tourism remains stable, even growing, despite global economic pressures and the bankruptcy of one low-cost airline.
