Foreign workers now make up 30% of the tourism sector’s labour force, according to statistics gathered by Statistics Iceland (Hagstofa Íslands). In 2011, foreign workers made up 15% of the industry’s labour force. 35 thousand people worked in the travel and tourism sector this summer, half of whom were women.
The report also reveals that a large number of people working within the travel and tourism industry are not domiciled in Iceland, meaning they are either seasonal workers or have only been resident in the country for a short amount of time.