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Information for applicants

According to Chapter III of the Act on the Icelandic Tourist Board No. 96/2018, anyone intending to operate as a day tour provider, must apply for a license from the Icelandic Tourist Board. The issued license is indefinite. Applicants shall apply to the Icelandic Tourist Board no later than two months before the planned beginning of the operations.

Day tour provider is any legal or natural person that, whether on own initiative or at the request of a customer, combines, offers for sale or sells for commercial purposes to the public organized tours that are not covered by Act no. 96/2018 on Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements.

Day tour providers shall conduct their operations from fixed premises open to the public. However, this requirement may be waived if the service is operated solely on an electronic basis, in which case the licence holder must meet the requirements of Article 6 of Act No. 30/2002 regarding the information that must appear on the licence holder's website.

A day tour provider shall provide easy and continuous access to the following information:

  1. name,
  2. address of legal residence,
  3. official identification number (kennitala),
  4. postal- and e-mail addresses along with all other relevant contact information that enable easy contact,
  5. service provider's VAT number,
  6. the official register with which the service provider is registered,
  7. permits and licences and the issuers and regulators of these permits.

Further information can be found on the Consumer Agency web.

The liability insurance is intended to cover possible injury to clients or damage of their belongings during travel if such injury or damages are the result of the fault of the licence holder or his employees. The insurance must be in effect during the validity of the licence.

A confirmation of liability insurance must be provided with the application.

Anyone performing or intending to perform organized tours within Icelandic territory shall prepare a written safety plan for each type of tour, regardless of whether the entity concerned sells the tour directly to a traveler or through a third party. Safety plans shall at all times be available in writing both in Icelandic and English.

The obligation to provide safety plans applies domestic as well as foreign tourism providers.

Organized tours may not be offered for sale, promoted, or marketed in any way whatsoever in the absence of a safety plan. Travel agencies, that sell or promote tours for other providers must make sure that safety plans are in place before offering tours for sale.

Safety plans are not a requirement for licence and hence are not submitted when applying for license, but the Icelandic Tourist Board can at any time call for the submission of safety plans.

Further information on safety plans and their preparation can be found here.

The applicant, or the applicants' representative if the applicant is a legal person, must meet the following requirements in order to obtain a licence:

  1. he must reside in a Member State of the European Economic Area or a state which is party to the Convention establishing the European Free Trade Association or in the Faroe Islands;
  2. he must be of legal majority and be competent to manage his own finances, and may not, during the preceding four years in connection with a commercial activity, have been convicted of any offence punishable under the Act on The Icelandic Tourist Board, the General Penal Code or the Acts on limited liability companies, private limited liability companies, accounting practices, annual accounts, bankruptcy etc. or government taxes;
  3. he must have registered the operations with the Directorate of Internal Revenue;
  4. he must present confirmation that the operations are covered by liability insurance issued by an insurance company licensed to operate in the European Economic Area.

The Icelandic Tourist Board may request such further information as it considers necessary to decide whether a licence should be granted.

Before filling out the application form, applicants must make sure that all certificates, confirmations and other supporting documents are at hand as well as a valid debit or cretid card for payment of the licencing. 

The documents that the applicant must provide and upload during the application process are:

Natural persons (Individuals)

  • Certificate of being registered in the Iceland Revenue and Customs payroll register
  • Certificate of a valid liability insurance from an insurance company
  • If an natural person runs a business under a name other than his or her own, the name must be registered with the Icelandic Trade Directory and a confirmation of this must accompany the application.

Legal persons (Companies)

  • Verified business certificate from the Icelandic Trade Directory.
  • Confirmation of registration in the Iceland Revenue and Customs payroll register.
  • Confirmation of a liability insurance from an insurance company

Please note that only authorized signatories can submit applications in the name of legal persons.

Natural person (individual) or a legal person (company)?

The licence is issued in the name of the natural or legal person that is specified as applicant in the application, when the licence has been issued this person (natural or legal) will be the licence holder.

Payment for a license is a part of the application process. The fee for a day tour provider license is ISK 20,000. Make sure that you have a Debit or Credit card for paying the application fee at hand.

Applying for a legal person/company

The online application is accessed using electronic ID, please follow the link below. A company representative who is registered as authorised signatory with Iceland Revenue and Customs (Skatturinn), logs in and selects the respective company. This person will be registered with the Icelandic Tourist Board as the company representative.

Natural person (individual) logs in using electronic ID

Applicants must find out whether other licences are required for their operations.