Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

I call this the 'Disney World' effect of nature tourism. Self-involved, entitled people who treat national parks and the wilderness like an amusement park that has been set aside for their entertainment. They expect the natural world to cater to their whims the same way a Disney world employee does, and they just do not understand that's not how the world works.

Until recently, I worked at a company that sends these people to Iceland, among other places.<p>Influencers end up in that career for a reason. They are, in general, everything you&#x27;d expect them to be: flaky and privileged almost as a rule. They&#x27;re not bad people per se (no tantrums that I&#x27;ve seen), and are often well-meaning, but most are desperate to be famous. These are the same people who competed to be on The Bachelor or Dancing with the Stars as a means to improve their marketability. They have no real marketable skills other than marketing themselves.<p>Thus it should surprise no one that they are terrible tourists. If I could speculate, it&#x27;s a combination of cluelessness, lack of interest in researching anything about their destination (other than good photo spots), and a low-key sense of privilege that &quot;it&#x27;s not that big of a deal&quot; if they do something that might be harmful. In other words, they are a lot like average tourists but with bigger egos.

After the volcano erupted in 2010, the government launched a PR campaign in winter 2011 to counter the projected tourism drop. It specifically targeted &quot;inspired&quot; and &quot;enlightened&quot; travelers to come see the &quot;unique&quot; landscape.<p>Also in 2011, WOWair debuted with it&#x27;s $99 flights to Iceland.<p>Instagram launched in 2010.<p>Maybe it&#x27;s less &quot;people are garbage&quot; and more &quot;we should make it more expensive to come here.&quot;

It&#x27;s not just Iceland. My wife and I typically travel for the outdoors and we are extremely impact conscious. I&#x27;ve noticed a significant growth in outdoor activity in the last ten years or so. Along with the that growth I&#x27;ve noticed more trash, more people going off established trails when they shouldn&#x27;t (I&#x27;m not 100% anti off-trail travel), more disrespect for others who are trying to escape into nature, more people who are unprepared for somewhat serious activities (particularly rock climbing in remote locations, I&#x27;ve had to do a few rescues at this point), more trail braiding and erosion, and to get away from the people getting away, one must go deeper and farther into the backcountry. Iceland was beautiful, but the best places on the island (imho) were often places we explored that were relatively unknown. It&#x27;s a tough issue that many people in the outdoor community are scratching heads over how to deal with. I want to think that it&#x27;s a solvable problem, but the cynic in me says it&#x27;s a societal issue manifesting itself in this form and can&#x27;t be easily fixed.

This quote from the article baffles me:<p>&gt; The good instagrammers try to show different ways of enjoying nature. We don&#x27;t tag places that are off the beaten path that we want to protect as long as possible. Some places have become &quot;insta-famous&quot; without ever mentioning where they are but eventually they become known to everyone.<p>Wait, what? So you take a picture. Put it on instagram (because you are an &#x27;instagrammer&#x27;), but you don&#x27;t mention the place. But since you are an instagrammer, people want to figure it out and now flood the country in search for that place. Trampling all the nature on their way...<p>I get the idea of taking a photo once in a while. Mind you, I really enjoy photography. But I found that a photo never does justice to the moment. So I choose to savour the moment before anything else.<p>Let&#x27;s hope the future learns people that most of these instagram shots are basically digital waste.

<i>“The relatively new trouble with mass society is perhaps even more serious, but not because of the masses themselves, but because this society is essentially a consumers’ society where leisure time is used no longer for self-perfection or acquisition of more social status, but for more and more consumption and more and more entertainment… To believe that such a society will become more “cultured” as time goes on and education has done its work, is, I think, a fatal mistake. The point is that a consumers’ society cannot possibly know how to take care of a world and the things which belong exclusively to the space of worldly appearances, because its central attitude toward all objects, the attitude of consumption, spells ruin to everything it touches.”</i><p>Hannah Arendt

I hate to sound cynical but the reason it seems like everyone knows someone who&#x27;s gone to Iceland in the past 5 years is because the government has been heavily subsidizing flights and hotels to this exact end. There really was no other outcome :(<p>Also the government only needs to levy a 1000 USD fine on a few people in order to stop a lot of this because the American press will seize on it immediately.

Clickbaity title implies that all tourists that visit Iceland trash the place and this could not be further from the truth, I thought people were pretty well behaved. This article was about a few bad actors, literally. Iceland’s economy is now heavily reliant on tourism but tourism always comes at a cost and this needs to be factored in when choosing this as your source of income as a country. You don’t hear about the Ecuadorians complaining about tourists ruining the Galapagos Islands because they put a lot of effort into managing tourism there. Tourists are all the same, they just don’t care about your country, deal with it, manage it. Restrict the numbers, increase the cost, use the money to make repairs and clean up the mess. If not then don’t let them in (by making it prohibitively expensive to get there) and find another way to make money for your people.

Same is happening in the Faroe Islands at the moment. We&#x27;re at the early stages, though.<p>Last summer was absolutely terrible, with tourists not getting informed.<p>Don&#x27;t get me wrong, I do not blame the tourists at all. The tourism board has put out a whole lotta campaigns, social media marketing and shit. But they didn&#x27;t do anything to prepare and inform this huge influx of people.<p>&quot;Unspoiled and authentic&quot; is the message. People go trekking across the mountains, and into the private property of farmers. One farmer has threatened to shoot tourists, with messages of &quot;Tourists fuck off to your own country&quot;.<p>At least one person has died. A drunk festival attendee, I believe. It can get foggy extremely quickly. They fell to their death off a mountain, because they couldn&#x27;t see where they were walking.<p>This could have been prevented by guided tours, but that would ruin the &quot;authentic, unspoiled, whoa nature&quot; image that the tourism board is going for. Alternatively, educating tourists on do&#x27;s and don&#x27;t&#x27;s. A pamphlet at the airport and the dock.

Iceland should make up its mind. Flights to Iceland (from pretty much anywhere) are extremely cheap, presumably due to some sort of Icelandic tourism-board subsidy. This attracts people who choose vacation destination based on price... who might not be the most motivated to nurture (or even pay attention to) the local character of the place they visit.

[Warning ascerbic and anecdotal story below]<p>Iceland was the goto choice for my colleagues at a startup in London. A few days before they typically went and forked out top dollar for premium outdoor gear (Rab &#x2F; Fjallraven) and discussed their plans to mount Kirkjufell.<p>Iceland is the mecca for many hipsters at least for the UK.<p>I put it down to Sigur Ros, Game of Thrones and that its still not a very touristy place.<p>Like most hipsters, they know the price of everything but not the value. They check into their AirBnB place and use their phone as their main method of interacting in the area, rather than interact with the locals and build an appreciation of customs and the lay of the land.<p>Anyways back to the story, one of these well kitted out souls managed to sprain their ankles going for a leasurely walk in the boggy areas of Iceland, only 5 minutes after leaving their hotel.<p>I just worry now that the Scottish government are trying to market the highlands and outer islands as the &quot;Iceland of the UK&quot;.

You see the same thing in Yellowstone--inattentive Instagrammers with selfie sticks hoping to snap the perfect pic next to the wildlife and scenery. Nothing quite as real as being scalded by a hot spring when you&#x27;re used to viewing the world through a screen.

I m really looking forward to the day when we ll be looking back at this era of compulsive selfpromotion with disbelief at the level of kitsch we managed to achieve.

We need to become more vocal about tourist etiquette so that it becomes part of the social consciousness I think. Back then, we were making fun of people we considered unwashed for not having passports and being untravelled, and now we are surprised that unwashed people are ruining nature in other countries.

I was just there a couple weeks ago. The only incident I saw of this was a recently married couple taking photo&#x27;s on a cliff, they went out over the ropes, a misstep probably would have killed them.<p>Also when you rent a car there, they inform you that going off road is prohibited. I guess some people choose not to listen.

Its largely a scale thing too. When I was growing up I used to go on weekends away and camp overnight in rest areas, side of the road or private places. It worked great. A few decades later those areas are really popular with tourists but there is no room for hundreds of people to do the same. Meanwhile the new generation of locals can&#x27;t do it any more and have to stay in hotels now - which they can&#x27;t afford. Just another reason to leave the region and move to a big city.

I went in the winter of 2014 and saw cute fuzzy horses on the side of the road, so pulled over to look at them. When I got back to my car I realized it got stuck and had to embarrassingly ask locals to help. At least I didn&#x27;t drive off road. Some farmer pulled me out of the ditch with his truck as some other locals helped shovel the snow around my tires.

In the meantime, Icelandickers themselves trashing their ecosystem:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=sAubG28uODM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=sAubG28uODM</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Uba84Q6qwKM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Uba84Q6qwKM</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=NmLbLCMb4QQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=NmLbLCMb4QQ</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Xvc0ypXkjcQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Xvc0ypXkjcQ</a>

Solution: put a Pokemon Go character inside the crater of a volcano.

I noticed this when I visited Iceland a few years ago. Lots of tourists littering, jumping over barriers&#x2F;ropes at waterfalls, and ignoring the signs that say &quot;don&#x27;t go near the ocean - it washed away a family last week!&quot; Stupid and selfish on so many levels.<p>Sadly, I also noticed the same thing on Skye last month.<p>It goes beyond just numbers of tourists (a problem in and of itself, and one I&#x27;m obviously part of). Some people are just selfish pricks.

I think this is a potential basically everywhere, unfortunately most people do not respect the environment and given access will treat nature like a city. Where it becomes an issue is more a matter of forces acting to encourage &quot;normal&quot; people with no previous interest in nature to go and e.g have their piece of the pie for their worthless facebook pic.<p>Anecdotally, I&#x27;ve seen this multiple times on smaller scales in nature reserves in the UK, social networking and selfies definitely play a big role. It&#x27;s usually the places with easy access, almost no commitment or effort required, easy selfie opportunities... in these locations in recent years i&#x27;ve observed massive amounts of litter and disrespect, to add insult to injury these intruders tend to be ignorant of safety in general, hurling rocks, boulders and bottles into the path of walkers and climbers bellow from cliff tops.<p>The reaction from local authorities is to add more fences and gates, locking previously available easy access routes... basically keep the barrier for entry into nature reserves high enough for careless people to stay away.

Iceland is trying to reduce its dependence on oil exports, which is a good thing, by directing efforts towards Tourism. But looks like this is also affecting nature in its own way. It is like we can&#x27;t really interact with nature without destroying it in some way or the other.<p>Instagram does affect people a lot and the same people deny it. I am not on Instagram, never got onto it as I realized the impact FB was having in my life when it was the most popular medium. Uninstalled the FB app as well, I do access it through the browser occasionally, necessary evil and all that. But of course, instagramers (don&#x27;t know if this is even a word) think they are inspiring people. What do I know ¯\_(ツ)_&#x2F;¯<p>I hope Instagram goes through their new change of not showing the number of likes to viewers. Would be interesting to see whether that has any modification of societal behavior of people hooked onto it.

A while back someone posted a comment on another story about travel and tourism - I forget who - basically saying that travel is the ultimate extension of selfishness and narcissism. I disagreed, and I still do, but I will agree with that statement entirely when it concerns Instagram influencers.

I’ve lived in touristy areas all my life. The phenomenon of locals being disinterested in the tourists is not a new one and existed long before social media. Mysteriously they don’t seem to mind the money from those same tourists (or live on trust funds).

&gt;Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature<p>Rightfully so!<p>My city recently opened up a direct flight to Reykjavík.<p>Sadly, I&#x27;ve seen how people treat <i>our</i> national parks.<p>I hope Iceland use the increased tourism revenue to up their ranger presence and fine and&#x2F;or deport the offenders.<p>To Iceland if you&#x27;re listening: we&#x27;re not all bad, I promise :)

Tourists: people that would be better off elsewhere in a place that would be better off without them.

There are so many countries and towns all over the world I have seen which basically just prostitute themselves for tourism. It&#x27;s as disgusting as it is disgraceful. I don&#x27;t want to see that - I like societies who welcome foreigners but do not depend on their money and hence won&#x27;t sell their soul to this economic segment. It&#x27;s obvious how the majority of the population suffers from this attitude where every service is made for customers who won&#x27;t come back and accordingly is the quality.<p>Iceland is a role model in this regard.

Typo in title: should be &quot;Icelanders&quot;.

Those causing the problem should pay the price. So a small tax on the tourists to clean up after them should be in order.

There may come a time where tourists are tagged with GPS trackers. Those who go off the beaten path could face fines.

They need tougher laws &amp; throw these digital attention whores into prison for 2 years. Deny them access to their IG, or all SM, for the entire time.<p>Guaranteed to stop bad behavior.

Easy:<p>Hand every tourist a brochure about the Do&#x27;s and Dont&#x27;s. Aka, like Singapore prints warnings (DEATH TO DRUG TRAFFICKERS) on their landing cards.<p>If laws and rules are disrespected fine the sweet bejeezus out of those assholes (like in the thousands of $ range) and ban them from the country (or ideally, from the Schengen room) for 5 to 10 years.<p>The problem will solve itself in short time.

*Iceland tires ...

At first they were just shitting up the Web - now it&#x27;s the real world too :(<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Eternal_September" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Eternal_September</a>

Walking on moss and sitting on glaciers. Whatever is Iceland going to do about such anti-social and destructive behavior?

Okay, so restrict their entrance and live without their tourism money. :&#x27;)