Attitudes toward tourists more positive than last year

Ritstjórn
Tourists, a man and woman, sit with travel bags by the pond at City Hall. Young woman with the moss wall of City Hall in the background.

A new survey by Visit Reykjavík on resident attitudes toward tourists and tourism shows that 71% of capital area residents have positive attitudes toward tourists. This represents an increase from 2024, when 66% of residents held positive attitudes. Maskína conducted the survey on behalf of Visit Reykjavík in April 2025, repeating a survey done at the same time last year.

Positive effects on employment and economy

The survey shows that most residents, or 72%, believe tourism has a positive effect on employment in the capital area. About 75% also believe tourism has a positive economic effect on the capital area. When asked what's most positive about tourism in the capital area, residents most often mention that the industry generates revenue, followed by enhancing the city's vibrancy and boosting restaurants, cafés and bars. For example, 83% of capital area residents believe tourism has a positive effect on the availability of restaurants. When asked about negative effects of tourism, capital area residents mainly cite the number of tourists, traffic from rental cars and tour buses, and its impact on the rental housing market. Overall, though, most residents, or 61%, believe the positive aspects of tourism outweigh the negative, while only 14% believe the opposite is true.

Attitudes toward tourist numbers vary by season

As previous surveys have shown, there's some difference in capital area residents' attitudes toward tourist numbers by season. For instance, 53% of residents believe the number of tourists in Reykjavík's city center is high or too high during summer months, but that percentage drops to 22% in winter. In total, 44% of respondents consider the number of tourists in Reykjavík's city center reasonable in summer, while 64% say the number is reasonable during winter months. Whether summer or winter, most capital area residents, or 82%, believe tourists are friendly.

Important to monitor resident attitudes closely

"Our role is to promote the destination's positive development," says Inga Hlín Pálsdóttir, CEO of Visit Reykjavík. "We want tourists to feel welcome but also for tourism to have a positive effect on residents' lives — which it certainly does. We will continue to monitor resident attitudes closely and work to keep the capital area a friendly place for both residents and visitors."

Survey on capital area residents' attitudes toward tourists and tourism.

Tourists and others on Skólavörðustígur. Hallgrímskirkja church in the background, rainbow street in the foreground.