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New Issues in Polar Tourism pp 133–147Cite as

Tourism Resolving Crisis?

Exploring Tourism Development in Iceland in the Wake of Economic Recession

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Abstract

This chapter explores the growth of tourism in Iceland in the context of tourism policy and strategy as it manifests in the wake of the financial crash in autumn 2008. Tourism in Iceland has grown from being practically nonexistent in the mid-twentieth century to being one of the three key sectors of the economy. This growth and the role of tourism in the economy has been sporadically recognized with interest in tourism in public debates and policy flaring up in times of crisis in the nation’s primary industries. Similarly, after the 2008 credit crunch, great hopes were tied to tourism and a kind of gold rush mentality ensued. The main tenent of the pro-tourism argument is the economic value of tourism and this argument is readorned each time tourism surfaces in public policy. Thus, tourism policy is seen as recurring, thus maintaining the tourism production system, ultimately producing Iceland as a tourism destination. The chapter concludes by arguing that the recurrence of policy in the context of Icelandic tourism fundamentally challenges expectations and hopes tied to tourism in the wake of the economic recession of 2008.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the editors for their efforts in making this book a reality and for accepting our abstract. We are also grateful to all our interviewees for sharing their views on the development of tourism in Iceland and giving us access to their personal archives of material relating to tourism discourse. The chapter is based on an ongoing research on the development of tourism in Iceland that is funded by the Icelandic Research Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, Department of Geography and Tourism, University of Iceland, Askja v. Sturlugata, 101, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Gunnar Thór Jóhannesson Ph.D.

  2. Icelandic Tourism Research Centre, University of Akureyri, Borgum v/Norðurslóð, 600, Akureyri, Iceland

    Edward H. Huijbens Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Gunnar Thór Jóhannesson Ph.D.
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  2. Edward H. Huijbens Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Gunnar Thór Jóhannesson Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Geography and Economic His, Umeå University, Samhällsvetarhuset, Plan 3, Umeå, SE-901 87, Sweden

    Dieter K. Müller

  2. , Department of Geography and Economic His, Umeå University, Samhällsvetarhuset, Plan 3, Umeå, SE-901 87, Sweden

    Linda Lundmark

  3. , School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks and, Lakehead University, Oliver Rd. 955, Thunder Bay, P7B 5E1, Ontario, Canada

    Raynald H. Lemelin

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Jóhannesson, G.T., Huijbens, E.H. (2013). Tourism Resolving Crisis?. In: Müller, D., Lundmark, L., Lemelin, R. (eds) New Issues in Polar Tourism. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5884-1_9

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