What will travel in Iceland look like in a post COVID-19 world? Will I still have access to the same quality tours? With news of unrestricted entry, is Iceland now open for business? These are the types of questions that are now being asked when we talk about travelling to Iceland in a post COVID-19 world. This Hidden Iceland blog will hopefully give future travellers an understanding of what we think a post COVID-19 Iceland will look like.
UPDATED: February 25th, 2022
Iceland is poised to be one of the first countries to recover and enter a post COVID-19 world with herd immunity and high levels of vaccination being the anticipated route to success.
Despite a resurgence in early 2022, Iceland has not see many serious infections from the current virus. This has led the Icelandic government to remove all restrictions in a bid for herd immunity. See details here.
As it stands, EVERYONE, regardless of vaccination status can enter Iceland freely.
Tourism has changed in Iceland
Tourism is another matter entirely. The number of travellers remains tiny, compared to pre-pandemic numbers (around 1/3rd in 2021 compared to 2019) meaning no crowds at even the most popular of sights!
Welcome news, yes! Back to normal, no. Aside from the new ‘safe countries’ the rest of the world will NOT be able to enter Iceland just yet.
Countries that can now travel to Iceland
ALL countries are allowed to enter Iceland freely at the time of writing.
Direct flights to Iceland
IcelandAir, WizzAir, Easyjet, SAS, Lufthansa, Norwegian Airlines and Transavia are all flying to and from Iceland depending on the time of year so there is plenty of availability.
Also, Iceland is closer than you think. Direct flight times often rival domestic flight durations. For example, from Toronto it only takes 5 hours. From New York it’s only 5.5 hours. Boston is only 4.5 hours. Across the pond is even quicker. From London it takes just 3 hours. From Paris, 3.5 hours and from Edinburgh, a tiny 2.5 hours.
NO Testing on Arrival
There will no longer be testing on arrival for any traveller.
Restrictions Easing in 2022
All restrictions have been removed as of February 25th, 2022.
It’s time to travel, for some
So we cautiously say, it is time to consider travelling. This is of course with a balanced viewpoint as to the potential effects and risks.
Is Iceland a good place to start my travels?
With its isolated location as a singular island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and being crowned number 1 on the global peace index for the past 13 years, Iceland is as good a country as any to be your first post COVID-19 destination. Mix this with; modern infrastructure, super fast internet, abundant clean drinking water, near unlimited renewable energy, a low population density (around 330,000 people in a country the size of Belgium), and an uncultivated outdoor landscape and you’d be hard to find a better location (in our opinion).
Iceland is dominated by volcanoes, glaciers and UNESCO World Heritage Sites so you can see why we think Iceland might just see a post COVID-19 boom. However, things have changed. There’s no doubt about that.
It’s also not as cold as you think
In fact, if you are coming from Canada or the northern states in the US or northern Europe, for example, you will be pleasantly surprised to hear that Iceland’s winters are a great deal warmer despite their northern latitude. The average temperature in January in Iceland sits around zero degrees Celsius. Compare that to the chilly -6 or -7 that Toronto experiences and it may feel like a summer holiday in winter. Maybe not. But you get the idea. You get to experience the Arctic without the extreme cold temperatures.
Sadly, listing all the fantastic reasons to come to a destination will no longer cut it. Questions like; will I be exposed to large crowds? Is social distancing possible? How clean and how well equipped is the location for dealing with another outbreak? And, how long are the flights? These types of questions wouldn’t have entered our heads in the same way before, but seem to be taking precedence now. Rightly so. Thankfully for Hidden Iceland, our little country, in the middle of nowhere, caters for all these requirements and more.
So we’ve created this Travelling To Iceland in a post COVID-19 World blog to express our own thoughts on what our tours will be like when all this is behind us.
The great thing about Hidden Iceland is that we are already heavily geared towards avoiding the crowds, small group tours and off the beaten path travel. Maybe now is the time to take advantage of the benefits of a personalised service.
We hope the below list gives some reassurance and allows you to pick the appropriate time to travel in the future. Just remember, if you want to start planning now, even for far in the future, we’ll be happy to help.
1. The crowds are gone
Iceland saw a reduction in overall tourist numbers in 2019 already with some quarters reporting as much as a 20% decline in travellers. We had already begun to suggest that the boom was over for Iceland. It appears that the tourism industry is maturing into a more experience based one. As opposed to mass tourism. We believe in a post COVID-19 world, these numbers are going to be way, way lower than that.
Iceland was never overcrowded. Popular, yes. Overcrowded, no.
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