In the last 10 years the number of tourists visiting Iceland has drastically increased, and there is now a 6 to 1 ratio between the number of tourists and the number of local residents. This increase raises questions on the impact that an increase of tourism can have on a country and the people living there. Throughout the first 3 days of our “Otherworldly” Iceland study abroad program we have taken a deep dive into the way that tourism is shaping Iceland’s culture, sustainability within tourism, and the impact large amounts of tourism has on a country.
Reykjavik, the capital city, has been shaped into one of the main tourist attractions in Iceland. This is shown through the countless number of tourist shops, Airbnb’s, and restaurants along the roads. The tourist shops contain merchandise ranging from puffin stuffed animals to Viking bobble heads, and a large selection of “Icelandic” sweaters. This raises the question of whether these items are an authentic part of Icelandic culture or if they are solely a way to profit off of tourists. Either way Iceland has relied on tourism for their economy and continues to support the tourism industry.
Throughout reading and learning about the Iceland Airwaves music festival I started to grow curious on how much of the culture that Iceland promotes is authentic and what are ways in which Iceland is performing. The Iceland Airwaves began as a way for Icelandic musicians to share their music with others and has grown to be a tourist attraction to international visitors. The Icelandic music scene has changed as venues have been closed to make room for new hotels and musicians have been asked to change their music style to accommodate what tourists want to listen to. These changes are slowly stripping away the authenticity of true Icelandic music culture.
One of the ideas that I associate authenticity with in a tourism setting is showing accurate history throughout information being shared to visitors. One important part of Icelandic history is the idea of Vikings. Throughout class discussions we have talked about the history of Iceland and specifically the history of the Vikings coming to Iceland. The ideas of barbaric and aggressive vikings were not necessarily the case in Iceland. Through the National Museum of Iceland, which we visited today, there was information that discussed that the Icelanders were more so farmers with some Viking customs, and their main goal was to trade and settle. The idea of Vikings being farmers is not something that is promoted in Icelandic tourism and the story isn’t told at these Viking shops that are found around Reykjavik. This is one of the cases that it seems there is more of a performative aspect to Iceland’s tourism and it could possibly just be a lack of tourist knowledge.
It seems like there is an expectation that tourists have before arriving in Iceland on the things they will see and the experiences they will have. Some of these include the rainbow road, puffins, sweaters, vikings, Icelandic music and more. These expectations seem to be promoted by Iceland in a way that at times seems excessive and performative (multiple of the same store on a street, puffins stuffed animals at tourist shops, Viking merchandise) although still interesting to tourists visiting from around the world. The question of authenticity in Icelandic tourism begins to become problematic when the Icelandic culture is being stripped away which is an idea that will be discussed further throughout this trip, but I am not sure the answer to yet. I’m looking forward to continuing to process thoughts and questions of how tourism has impacted the Icelandic people and how Icelanders maintain their culture!