Iceland Installing New Counters at Major Tourist Sites

2026-03-06 - 11:35

Authorities in Iceland are replacing visitor-counting equipment at some of the country’s most visited natural attractions in an effort to improve monitoring and planning. As reported by RÚV, the initiative is being led by the Icelandic Tourist Board and covers around 40 destinations nationwide. What's the Story? Replacement of visitor-counting equipment at around 40 tourist destinations across Iceland, led by the Icelandic Tourist Board New camera-based counters planned for Geysir geothermal area and Gullfoss waterfall Visitor numbers last year: Geysir and Gullfoss ~1.5 million each; Þingvellir ~630,000; Fjaðrárgljúfur ~350,000; Reynisfjara ~315,000 Strokkur erupts at Geysir hot springs. Photo: Golli. Iceland Review. Visitor monitoring project Officials say the new counting systems will provide more accurate information about visitor numbers and help guide decisions on infrastructure and site management. According to Arnar Már Ólafsson, Director of Tourism, the data collected plays an important role in managing popular sites. “Because there we can see more or less live how the development is. As a result, we can make fairly informed decisions about the development of destinations – about organization and service, and not least, we can protect them from stress and improve infrastructure to handle the number of people we are seeing.” Öxarárfoss waterfall. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain. Existing equipment has relied on X-ray-based counters, but newer systems using camera technology are now being introduced. “It is much more accurate and we are installing such counters at Geysir and Gullfoss,” Arnar said. Data shows that the Geysir geothermal area and Gullfoss waterfall each received around 1.5 million visitors last year. Other heavily visited sites include Þingvellir National Park with around 630,000 visitors, Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon with nearly 350,000, and Reynisfjara beach with around 315,000.