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Seungmin Lee

Eddy

English 10

12 December 2018

Tourism in Iceland

Dramatic, wild and inspirational. These words describe a place that more tourists have

discovered, but many people have not. Plummeting waterfalls gushing from all seams, barren

mountains painted with striking color patterns and geothermal hot springs bubbling fluorescent

colors (Bliss, 2016). This place abounds with dramatic, awe-inspiring landscapes which leave

most travelers speechless. This place is the country Iceland. This country is one of the truly

amazing, breathtaking and beautiful places you must visit before you die.

Iceland is a small island nation that does not border any country. It is located in the

northern part of Europe located between the Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean,

southeast of North America. According to the ​Guide to Iceland a​ rticle, the first settlers of the

island have been known as the Irish monks or “the Papar”​, and ​when Iceland was found, the

settlers wanted it all to themselves. They named it Iceland to draw people away from it when it

actually has lots of forest areas. The settlers named the country with all the ice, Greenland, so

people would go there thinking it was warm and green (Shahin, 2013). ​Most people think of ice

when they hear the word “Iceland”; however, Iceland isn’t all ice and it actually is very warm.

The glacial ice covers only eleven percent of the country and it’s surrounded by water (National

Geographic Kids, 2018). “The Gulf Stream current and warm southwesterly winds make the

climate more moderate and pleasant than one might expect from a northern country” (National
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Geographic Kids, 2018). Located on top of a volcano spot, Iceland is very active with volcanoes.

It also has been thought that when a large volcano erupted about 7 million years ago, Iceland was

first formed (Shahin, 2018). Because of this, the country experiences several severe volcanic

activities.

Nature has been the main purpose of the tourist’s visit, and tourism in Iceland has been

increasing since 2010. According to a ​Gamma article, “Tourist arrivals in Iceland have increased

fivefold since 2010 to 2.2 million in 2017” and the nature of Iceland has been the main purpose

of their visit to Iceland according to 83% of tourists (Hauksson, 2018). According to the

National Geographic Kids ​article, in Iceland, there are four national parks that are under

conservation and protection, and there are more than 80 species of animals that are preserved in

the national parks. Also, Iceland is a country where ice glaciers and volcanoes co-exist.

“Vatnajökull, or Vatna Glacier, is an extensive ice field in southeastern Iceland, which covers

3,200 square miles with an average ice thickness of more than 3,000 feet” (National Geographic

Kids, 2018). Also, more than 200 volcanoes exist in Iceland, and the country has one third of the

world’s total lava flow. According to the ​Central Intelligence Agency​, in 1875, “20% of the

island’s population migrated mostly to Canada and the United States” because of the eruption of

the Askja volcano. ​This event “devastated the Icelandic economy and caused widespread

famine” throughout most of Iceland (​2018​). In addition, according to the ​National Geographic

Kids article, the volcano eruption from ​Eyjafjallajokull volcano led the high ash into the

atmosphere and disrupted Europe’s traffic about two weeks after (2018). However, there are also

advantages of having so many volcanoes: They can be used for electricity and heating.

Volcanoes can produce hydroelectric power and geothermal water reserves. Hence, Iceland is the
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leading pioneer in geothermal energy, and this energy is used to produce heating for 90% of the

population. Because of this, there are many tourist resources that use this power from volcanoes

such as geothermal spas (Bliss, 2018).

Due to the increase in tourism, there are positive impacts on the economy of the country.

It increases the country’s GDP, which provides a higher quality of life for locals and increases in

wealth of an area. According to 2015 Tourism Economic Impact Report, “Global tourism in

2014 contributed 3.7 percent (US$2.5 billion) to the world's GDP, with its total contribution

rising to almost 10 percent of world GDP from the over one billion international tourists

worldwide, a number that has been growing by 5 percent annually since 2012” (Turner).

Therefore, this makes better both for the tourists as the destination place. For example, in

Iceland, ​there have been improvements to the natural environment, such as protection, national

parks and man-made infrastructures. Tourism provides the “economic stimulus to allow for

diversification of employment and income potential, and develop resources within the

community” (“Impacts of Tourism”, 2018). Yet, there are also some drawbacks for increasing

tourism, and most of the problems are concentrated in the environment. Increasing tourism

affects different areas of the environment including water and air quality, noise pollution, and

wildlife; however, the biggest problem is solid waste and littering. Especially, in Iceland, waste

disposal is a serious problem and “improper disposal can be a major despoiler of the natural

environment, rivers, scenic areas, and roadsides” (Camarda, 2013) and this will have a massive

effect on Iceland’s environment and nature. Other than environment, another big problem of the

increase of tourism in Iceland is that tourists far outnumber the resident population (Farr, 2018).
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On the other hand, according to the ​Grapevine article, the tourists in Iceland have been

decreasing since 2017, and there has been a significant drop in April 2018 with the largest

overall reduction of Asian tourists. According to the data from the Icelandic Tourist Board,

departing non-Icelandic passengers at Keflavík International Airport numbered some 147,000

people in April, down by about 4% from April 2017. The director of The Icelandic Travel

Industry Association, Bjarnheiður Hallsdóttir has commented that Asians mostly stay for a

shorter time and travel less around the country. Instead, they mostly stay in the southwest;

therefore, this development is not exactly the best for Iceland as a tourist destination.

Although tourism in Iceland is currently decreasing, people are encouraged to visit this

dramatic, wild and inspirational country. People can experience stunning landscapes and well as

their own unique culture. Also, since the country is surrounded by water, ​global warming will

lead to rising water levels and melting ice will have a devastating impact on the country. Because

of this, in a few years, people might not have a chance go to visit this country even if they want

to. They will also never be able to experience the dazzling nature and have a remarkable

experience. Currently, the government of Iceland is developing policies to solve the

environmental problems which are the biggest problems occurring in Iceland due to increasing

tourism. These policies will allow sustainable and eco-friendly tourism in Iceland. Winter

vacation is coming very soon, what about deciding on a trip to Iceland?

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Reference List

Bliss, C. (2016, October 25). Iceland: 5 words that (try to) say it all. ​Beyond the Map.​ Retrieved

from ​https://www.beyondthemap.org/single-post/2016/05/09/Iceland-in-5-words

Camarda, D. (2003). Environmental impacts on tourism. ​Ciheam.​ Retrieved from

http://om.ciheam.org/om/pdf/a57/04001977.pdf

Farr, L. (2018, April 25). Positive & negative effects of tourism. ​USA Today.​ Retrieved from

https://traveltips.usatoday.com/positive-negative-effects-tourism-63336.html

Fontaine, P. (2018, May 11). Tourism to Iceland begins to decrease. ​Grapevine.​ Retrieved from

https://grapevine.is/news/2018/05/11/tourism-to-iceland-begins-to-decrease/

Hauksson, H. (Ed.) (2018). Tourism in Iceland. ​Gamma.​ Retrieved from

https://www.gamma.is/media/skjol/Gamma-Tourism.pdf

National Geographic Kids. (2018, April 04). Countries of the world: Iceland.​ Newsela.​ Retrieved

from ​https://newsela.com/read/elem-country-iceland/id/40393/

Shahin, I. (20​13, June 25). The history of Iceland. ​Guide to Iceland​. Retrieved from

https://guidetoiceland.is/history-culture/history-of-iceland#2.3 

The World Factbook: Iceland. (2018, February 01). ​Central Intelligence Agency.​ Retrieved from

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ic.html

Turner, R. (2015). Travel and tourism: economic impact 2015 world. ​World Travel & Tourism.​

Council.​ Retrieved from

https://zh.wttc.org/-/files/reports/economic-impact-research/regional-2015/world2015.pdf