The economic significance of the tourism industry

Since 2014, Statistics Faroe Islands has been examining the economic impact of purchases made by foreign tourists who visit the country. Locals are not included in the calculations. Reverse estimates have been made to 2011.

Turnover

Foreign travellers purchased services and goods worth DKK 900 million in 2022, which is a new record. This corresponds to a growth of 55% compared to 2021 when turnover was only DKK 582 million due to the pandemic. Turnover in 2019, before the pandemic, was DKK 784 million in comparison. The increase from 2019 to 2022 is therefore 15%. In 2011, the turnover was DKK 384 million. Thus, the turnover has increased by more than 235% from 2011 to 2022.

Analysis shows that DKK 441 million, equivalent to 49% of the turnover in 2022, is generated by Faroese transport companies, ferries, and travel agencies (SAS and Widerøe are not included since their revenues are sent abroad).

900 million DKK in revenue

900 million DKK in export value

6% of the total exports in 2022

347 million DKK increase in gross value

646 full-time equivalent employees in 2022

DKK 172 million, equivalent to approximately 19%, comes from restaurants, food shops, and beverage products. DKK 136 million, equivalent to 15%, is from accommodations, and DKK 78 million, equivalent to 9%, is from domestic transportation and car rentals. The remaining percentages are divided among experiences, clothing sales, and other sales.

Most categories have recovered well after the significant decline due to the pandemic, except for the "Restaurants, food shops, and beverage products" category, where the revenue is at 80% of the 2019 level. The category "Transportation companies, cruise industry, and travel agencies" has increased by 33% from DKK 332 million in 2019 to DKK 441 million in 2022.

The revenue figures for Airbnb are not included. No new data is available for Airbnb. According to TAKS, they were at DKK 22 million in 2018.

No derived activities are included in the revenue for incoming tourism, such as significant investments made in recent years, including accommodation facilities. For instance, investments were made in accommodation facilities for nearly half a billion DKK in 2019/2020, which ended up in the construction industry and other service sectors.

Revenue from visiting tourists/incoming tourism

Assessed for the years 2013 to 2022 and described in relation to the total export value

Gross Value Growth

The gross value growth increased to DKK 347 million in 2022, compared to DKK 214 million in 2021. For comparison, the gross value added was DKK 421 million in 2019, before the pandemic.

Full Time Jobs

The incoming tourism industry created 646 full-time jobs in 2022, compared to 495 full-time jobs in 2021, corresponding to a growth of 31%. The number of full-time jobs in 2022 is 91% of what it was in 2019, when there were 714 full-time jobs. In 2011, when the survey began, there were 385 fulltime jobs. 34% of the full-time jobs were within transport companies, such as ferries and travel agencies. 21% were within accommodations and 24% were within restaurants.

In 2019, it was estimated that at least 1000 full-time jobs were associated with the core activities of the Faroese tourism industry when considering not only incoming tourism, but also outbound travel. In 2022, these numbers are expected to be slightly lower.

It is estimated that around 70% of employees in the Faroese tourism industry are women.

Export Value

Inbound tourism, i.e. foreign visitors who visited the Faroe Islands in 2022, accounted for 6% of the total Faroese export value. This can be compared to 4.8% in 2021 and 3.1% in 2020 - both pandemic years - and 6.4% in 2019, before the pandemic.