At the end of the year, it is time for a little retrospective. In 2017 the Húnaþing vestra Visitor Information Centre here at the Icelandic Seal Centre welcomed a total number of 42,481 guests in 2017. This is an 8% year-on-year (YoY) increase, and represents a significant softening of visitor number growth, as 2016 YoY growth was 44%, and 2015 YoY growth was 35%. In and of itself, a lesser growth in sheer numbers is not particularly concerning, but what is of concern is the 29% YoY decrease in turnover that the Seal Centre experienced last year according to our provisional numbers.
13,417 guests paid to visit our museum, which is a 12% increase YoY, and we are delighted that the number of visitors paying to enter the museum grew faster than the number of guests to the visitor centre – although, it must be noted that the aforementioned decrease in turnover occurred in spite of this increase in museum visits, it is therefore safe to say that in 2017 travellers clutched their purses tightly, when it came to leisure activities and souvenir shopping, at least.