While the tourism industry in Iceland seems content with a flattening of visitor numbers at about 2.3 million people (as it has been for the past three consecutive years), it is seeing changes in what tourists are doing on and around the island.
A new report called Iceland Travel Trends 2026 charts meaningful shifts beneath the surface.
+ Booking data from the first half of 2026 shows travellers continue to mostly seek out Iceland’s signature nature experiences. Lava caves, Katla ice cave tours, snorkelling at Silfra and South Coast trips are among the most-booked day experiences for Icelandic tour operator Arctic Adventures, which commissioned the research. Ice cave and glacier activities led bookings in 2025.
+ But there are also two clearly two emerging patterns — growing interest in geothermal bathing experiences and increased demand for more remote regions such as the Westfjords. Arctic Adventures tours incorporating newer and expanded geothermal experiences including Laugaras Lagoon, Secret Lagoon and Laugarvatn Fontana are increasingly popular, as are longer itineraries outside Iceland’s most-travelled routes.
“For a decade, everyone asked how fast Iceland could grow,” says said Asgeir Baldurs, chief executive of Arctic Adventures. “The plateau lets us ask a better question: how good can we make every single trip? That’s the contest we intend to win.”
The report findings suggest Iceland’s next tourism phase may be less about how many more people arrive each year, and more about when they come and how travel demand spreads beyond the country’s traditional hotspots.
Adventures.is
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+ Snorkelling Silfra:
+ Walking inside glacial lava tubes:
https://thewest.com.au/travel/walking-inside-a-glacier-in-iceland-c-22437356
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