ICELAND: Iceland Must Ready For Influx In Tourism

The Icelandic Travel Industry Association (SAF) warns that improvements are necessary at the more popular Icelandic tourism destinations before next summer.

Roughly 600.000 tourists are expected to visit during next year’s summer months, nearly twice Iceland’s population and there is growing concern over whether Iceland’s more visited tourism hot spots are able to cope with the influx of travellers within the summer period.

“We believe and trust that the situation as it stands now will improve,” The managing director of SAF, Helga Árnadóttir, told Túristinn. “It has to improve. Sometimes it’s not a question of money but other issues that cause a hold up, like organisational problems etc.”

This summer saw 507.000 visitors travel to Iceland, meaning SAF expects the number to rise by almost 20% in just one year.

“It’s not that the situation at tourist destinations is bad all over the country,” said Helga. “It is that at the more popular destinations circumstances are not up to par, but Iceland is full of natural wonders and we can make it easier to encourage tourists to spread out across the country.”