Bright Northern Lights attract more UK visitors to Iceland by Cheap Flights Booker UK

The Northern Lights - which are particularly bright and visible this year owing to a cosmic phenomenon known as a "solar maximum" - have been cited among the factors that have contributed to a recent rise in the number of British visitors to Iceland.

According to the national tourist board, arrivals from the UK in January 2012 increased by nearly 54% year-on-year to almost 7,000.

The strong performance last month followed a record-breaking year for Icelandic tourism in 2011, when 67,600 British travellers contributed to a 16% increase in visitor numbers.

Industry authorities are optimistic that further growth will occur in the coming year.

Hera Bra Gunnarsdottir, project manager for marketing at Visit Iceland, said: "We are delighted that our country had such a large increase in visitor numbers last month.

"The brighter-than-usual Northern Lights throughout January was a definite draw for UK tourists."

Access to the country will improve as a result of new air services being introduced in 2012, with easyJet set to operate three weekly flights to Reykjavik from Luton airport from 27 March.


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