Climate Change Is a Boon to Tourism in Iceland
On April 14, 2010, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted. As a cloud of ash headed toward Ólafur Eggertsson’s picturesque farm nestled in the foothills, he gave his cattle a four-day supply of food, plugged cracks in the barn, then evacuated with his family. Over the next few months, the family filmed their efforts to restore their home and eventually created a 20-minute documentary. A year after the eruption, the family opened a visitor center across the street from the farm to show the film and sell knick-knacks, including bottled ash, to the booming number of tourists that followed in the wake of the eruption.
More than 2.2 million to visit Iceland this year for the rugged beauty, glaciers, volcanoes, Northern Lights, and perhaps surprisingly, agriculture. “Agritourists” are people who travel to enjoy local food and a taste of the agrarian lifestyle, and even on this isolated Arctic island, agritourism is taking off. “Tourism isn’t just a business, but a cultural force,” said Gudrún Gunnarsdóttir, the director of the Icelandic Tourism Research Centre, at the October 2016 Arctic Circle Assembly.
