Promote Iceland has announced starting 2014 on a high, having seen a record growth of 65.2 per cent in British visitors to Iceland during January 2014.

In January 2013 Iceland received 10,031 tourists from the UK market, while January 2014 saw a record 16,576 visits from British tourists, signifying an increase of 65.2 per cent.

A number of factors may have caused this vast increase in tourists from the British market, including NASA’s prediction that conditions for catching the Northern Lights during the winter months of 2013 and 2014 would have been at their best in 50 years and Iceland is a popular destination for witnessing the spectacular aurora borealis.

Líney Inga Arnórsdóttir, project manager for marketing at Promote Iceland commented: “We are delighted to have seen such an increased interest in Iceland in January 2014 and we are particularly pleased that the amount of tourists from the UK that are discovering Iceland during the winter months has increased by so much, outside of the peak summer months.

“Promote Iceland is optimistic that UK numbers will remain buoyant for the rest of 2014 due to a number of exciting new projects which are in the pipeline for Iceland, including the opening of a number of new hotels and attractions.

“Similarly, Iceland is only 2.5 hours away from UK via airplane and an increasing amount of airlines are offering direct flights.

“Last year was a phenomenal success for Iceland and we hope that more UK visitors will continue to be inspired by Iceland in 2014.”