Views from Winter Wonderland

The night of October 8th 2008 divided the Icelandic people and transformed the way we think and what we value. Since that fateful day, Iceland has been hated, pitied, admired and romanticised. And, like many struggling countries throughout history, Iceland was eventually invaded. No, not by red-headed Vikings. Our conquerors came in the form of tourists. Millions of them every year.

As it happens, Iceland is no longer struggling. Its recovery has been pretty remarkable and several economists say much of a much of this can be put down to our flourishing tourist industry. 

It is difficult to say exactly what draws tourists to this isolated island in the North Atlantic. Is it the cold? Not likely. Is it the traditionally cured, stinking meat? Probably not. It certainly isn’t the cheap beer because tourists find themselves paying the same as they do in London’s West End. But Iceland’s charming, thinly populated countryside with its lagoons and starlit skies is something definitely worth experiencing.

With well over a 1,000 registered hotels and more than 500 Airbnb accommodations (plus quite a few hipster-ones which are not registered), Iceland is filling up with bright-coated Brits and Chinese like never before. If you take a stroll downtown you’ll be able to spot a hotel under construction on every corner. This build-up is creating thousands of jobs – and yet supply still lags behind demand.

Since the turn of the century, the number of foreign tourists has more than tripled, lifted by an average yearly growth rate of 9.3%. Between 2010 and 2014 this figure touched 20% and this year the number of overseas visitors exceeded 1 million for the very first time. In 2012, the total number of foreign overnight stays was 2.9 million, a huge jump on the figure seen just 10 years before, when it was only 1.2 million. And just like the snow, there are no signs of it stopping soon – so bring some corn for popping!

Last year, for the first time in history, tourism contributed more to the economy than fishing, which has always been our most profitable industry. Recreational activities are increasingly popular throughout the year. Last summer, more than 70% of summer visitors went nature bating, around 35% went whale watching and 15% went on glacier trips. And during the winter, demand for guided tours has seen a massive surge in response to a publicity-fuelled campaign to promote the Northern Lights.

A friend of mine works at The Blue Lagoon, one of Iceland’s hottest tourist attraction – literally. Every now and then she gets asked questions like, “So, when are you going to turn on the Northern Lights?” Comments such as this just make the locals roll their eyes – because everyone knows that they are a result of collisions between gaseous particles with charged particles released from the sun’s atmosphere, right? Erhmm…

Trust me, if we could have them “turned on” all year around we’d all be richer than Croesus.

Cheers and Merry Christmas!

Attributed to Karen Björk Eyþórsdóttir of Ortus Secured Finance