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Paper short abstract:

Tourism has been integral to Iceland's recent economic recovery. However, governments have failed to manage the social and environmental challenges of mass tourism. This paper explores the tourist boom and recent decline within the context of a nation that remains in political and social crisis.

Paper long abstract:

After more than a decade of spectacular increases in tourist numbers, reaching 2,195,271 in 2017, or six visitors for every local, tourism to Iceland is now declining, and it is expected that 2019 will witness an overall drop in visitor numbers. There seem to be two immediate causes for this decline. With the collapse of the low priced carrier WOW Air, and with other airlines increasing their fares, getting to Iceland has become more expensive. At the same time, as the Icelandic economy has recovered - largely due to tourism - the prices of hotels and tourist activities have increased. The purpose of this paper is not to dispute the suggested causes, but rather to explore other, far less obvious, factors associated with both the tourist boom, and its recent decline, most of which centre around considerations of value. What do tourists value in Iceland? Is this congruent with the symbols and values Icelanders have been consistently deploying to promote themselves and their nation to the world? How does the Icelandic emphasis on 'pure nature' reconcile with the environmental degradation that has accompanied the last five boom tourist years? In considering these questions, this paper suggests that while Iceland may be characterised as in economic recovery, the governmental failure to fully grasp the challenges, environmental and social, that recent mass tourism has brought to Iceland is evidence of ongoing crisis in both social and political domains.