
Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature - listentojohan
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48703462
======
sillyquiet
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.

~~~
balabaster
It's worse than this - their entire life needs to be Instagram worthy.
Everything they do is in the name of getting the next perfect shot, so they
can influence others in the name of social advertising to make a quick buck.
They either become proficient photographers, videographers and writers or they
team up with those who are, capitalizing on the latest trends in photography
to consolidate their brand.

The problem is we as a culture are both enabling and encouraging this by
following these influencers, in effect paying them to do this. And not just a
couple of hundred bucks here and there, these social media influencers have
gone from nobodies to multi-millionaires almost overnight.

So it's not all about self involved. This is one of the negative consequences
of the age of social media.

My kids follow these social media influencers who may as well be today's
answer to Gucci, Donna Karan, Versace, Armani. There's make up influencers for
the big beauty conglomerates. There's clothing influencers for the the fashion
industry. There's tourism influencers for the tourism industry, all making
millions of dollars a year trying to win the hearts and minds, or rather
money, of the social media generation.

~~~
magnamerc
Just wait until social influencers receive Libra's based on the amount of
likes their pictures get.

~~~
vram22
It would make sense for them to get it based on the amount of profits their
work generates.

~~~
bitxbitxbitcoin
Libras based on the value of ads FB sold while people were liking the post
then.

~~~
vram22
Yes, I did get that chain (pun intended), but I thought GP meant it literally.

------
throwaway847272
Until recently, I worked at a company that sends these people to Iceland,
among other places.

Influencers end up in that career for a reason. They are, in general,
everything you'd expect them to be: flaky and privileged almost as a rule.
They're not bad people per se (no tantrums that I'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.

Thus it should surprise no one that they are terrible tourists. If I could
speculate, it'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 "it's not that big of a deal" if they do something
that might be harmful. In other words, they are a lot like average tourists
but with bigger egos.

~~~
usrusr
Not just bigger egos: instagrammers naturally compete for attention, it's
basically their job to one-up their peers. Regular tourists may occasionally
want to do so as well, but it's entirely optional for them.

It's like professional vs recreational sports: some hobbyists might be
misguided enough to take PEDs, but for a struggling professional they will
appear like a possible livelihood-saver.

------
CptFribble
After the volcano erupted in 2010, the government launched a PR campaign in
winter 2011 to counter the projected tourism drop. It specifically targeted
"inspired" and "enlightened" travelers to come see the "unique" landscape.

Also in 2011, WOWair debuted with it's $99 flights to Iceland.

Instagram launched in 2010.

Maybe it's less "people are garbage" and more "we should make it more
expensive to come here."

~~~
gwbas1c
It seems that social media is the scapegoat of the day for whatever social
problem the media discusses.

~~~
darkpuma
When somebody calls you an asshole, there are two general reasons why that
might be. Maybe there is something wrong with the person calling you an
asshole; maybe they're having a bad day or have some sort of irrational grudge
against you. The alternative reason is maybe you _are_ an asshole.

When you're called an asshole once, it's easy to assume the other person is
having a bad day. But if numerous people are calling you an asshole every day
of the week, chances are you _are_ an asshole.

~~~
geggam
Fair point. Society however is rewarding asshole behavior via social media

~~~
darkpuma
Quite right, and I think this is one of the reasons so many people are
critical of social media.

------
rtkaratekid
It's not just Iceland. My wife and I typically travel for the outdoors and we
are extremely impact conscious. I've noticed a significant growth in outdoor
activity in the last ten years or so. Along with the that growth I've noticed
more trash, more people going off established trails when they shouldn't (I'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'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'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's a solvable problem, but the cynic in me
says it's a societal issue manifesting itself in this form and can't be easily
fixed.

~~~
serpix
The key is accessibility. If you have a good road then you get people who
treat nature as bad as themselves.

The higher up without accessible road or further in towards tougher trails and
you start to have people there who have the will and stamina to be there and
take the necessary precautions.

~~~
rtkaratekid
I agree. The higher the non-money relate commitment of getting to a location
the fewer people I see. The ones I do see are generally people who have
greater respect for where they are. Unfortunately I think that many wonderful
places have fallen victim to the "easy to get to" issue.

------
marapuru
This quote from the article baffles me:

> The good instagrammers try to show different ways of enjoying nature. We
> don't tag places that are off the beaten path that we want to protect as
> long as possible. Some places have become "insta-famous" without ever
> mentioning where they are but eventually they become known to everyone.

Wait, what? So you take a picture. Put it on instagram (because you are an
'instagrammer'), but you don'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...

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.

Let's hope the future learns people that most of these instagram shots are
basically digital waste.

~~~
qwsxyh
> Let's hope the future learns people that most of these instagram shots are
> basically digital waste.

That's very condescending of you. Lots of people like having real visual
memories of places they've been.

~~~
marapuru
I like having visual memories too. But are my memories triggered by a self-
made almost identical photo of a specific glacier or tree at a touristic
attraction?

In the last couple of years I've not taken photographs of things from which I
was sure already tens of thousands of photos exist.

In my opinion people forget the importance of the experience itself. It seems
as if there must always be some form of evidence to show others that you've
been to some place. Preferably while you are still there.

~~~
noelsusman
In my experience, my own picture does trigger a different response than a
basically identical photo from somebody else. I have a wall dedicated to
pictures of my various hiking trips, and replacing them with professional
photos doesn't have the same effect. I've tried.

I also don't think taking a picture and being present in the moment are
mutually exclusive at all. It takes five seconds for me to snap a quick photo.
It's really not that big of a deal.

------
tonyedgecombe
_“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.”_

Hannah Arendt

~~~
ixtli
I find that the root issue is individualism. There are immaculately clean
cities in east asia whos parent societies would definitely qualify as highly
"consumerist." It's not consumption that's the problem but the parameters
within which that consumption is allowed to proceed. As well, in individualist
societies we seem far more comfortable to discard our trash wherever and just
forget about it. A more collectivist attitude appears, from my experience, to
get people to be more thoughtful.

~~~
lm28469
> There are immaculately clean cities in east asia

Isn't it because they have armies of cleaning people in the streets ? A friend
of mine told me about it, I think he was in South Korea, Seoul perhaps, at the
time. He told me people mostly act the same but their cities are more
efficient at cleaning the mess before it piles up. I don't know if there are
other laws similar to that [0] but it probably explain some behaviours too.

I agree with the underlying point though, some people just don't give a shit.
I visited a small greek island last year and was appalled to see that locals
were throwing their trash, old furnitures, construction materials, &c. over a
cliff, straight to the ocean.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum_ban_in_Singapore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum_ban_in_Singapore)

~~~
dasloop
Not in Japan. No armies of cleaning people are required.

~~~
mistermann
Kids clean their own schools in Japan.

[https://www.indiatoday.in/education-
today/featurephilia/stor...](https://www.indiatoday.in/education-
today/featurephilia/story/students-in-japan-clean-their-own-classrooms-and-
school-toilets-and-the-reason-is-incredible-1227619-2018-05-06)

Whereas in the West, we just tell ourselves stories like all cultures are
equal, and even though it's obviously not even remotely true, most people seem
to believe it.

------
ixtli
I hate to sound cynical but the reason it seems like everyone knows someone
who'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 :(

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.

~~~
rando444
This isn't exactly accurate.

WOW air, the budget airline that was offering cheap flights from the US is now
bankrupt. They were able to offer the flights so cheap because they were
operating at a loss trying to take market share away from Icelandair.

The biggest problem has been the government's inability to control the tourism
industry, which more or less runs amok, taking all of the profit and
contributing little back other than general tax revenue.

Members of parliment have proposed various solutions to deal with tourism, but
most often there is no agreement, and no concrete actions put into place.

Basically there are laws that prevent the government from taxing people
differently, so it's illegal to tax tourists different than locals, so it
becomes difficult to take advantage of tourism money for government to create
facilities, hire people, build infrastructure, etc.

It's happening, but it's not what it could be.

Various "nature pass" fees have been proposed, hotel taxes, flight taxes,
etc.. but no matter what the idea is someone is always against it, which has
made curbing the situation hard.

With WOW air just disappearing recently, the economy is still adjusting to
that.

------
davidhyde
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.

~~~
lordleft
I don't know what percentage of Iceland's tourists are behaving in the manner
described by the article, but I disagree. There's nothing wrong with educating
tourists about proper conduct in a guest country. Some will just ignore the
admonitions but others may adjust their behavior. I do agree that a country
should account for possible ecological/environmental costs and factor that
into fees passed onto tourists.

------
torgard
Same is happening in the Faroe Islands at the moment. We're at the early
stages, though.

Last summer was absolutely terrible, with tourists not getting informed.

Don'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't do anything to prepare and inform this huge influx of people.

"Unspoiled and authentic" 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 "Tourists fuck off to your own country".

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't see where they were walking.

This could have been prevented by guided tours, but that would ruin the
"authentic, unspoiled, whoa nature" image that the tourism board is going for.
Alternatively, educating tourists on do's and don't's. A pamphlet at the
airport and the dock.

------
derefr
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.

~~~
esoterica
That’s a pretty classist thing to say. Rich people aren’t more respectful of
nature than people on a budget.

~~~
derefr
There are two algorithms for choosing a vacation destination:

1\. _sort_ vacation destinations based on actually wanting to go there, and
then _filter_ based on ability-to-go;

2\. _sort_ vacation destinations based on ability-to-go, and then pick the top
one.

AFAIK, there’s no correlation between wealth/class and which algorithm people
use. Rich people are sometimes rich because they’re thrifty, and so are no
less likely to employ algorithm #2; poor people are sometimes poor because
they tend to splurge on the things they want whenever they come into money,
and so are no less likely to employ algorithm #1.

My point is rather that people who employ algorithm #2—regardless of who they
are—tend to not actually care about the place they’re going to (since they
never had it in mind to go there at all, never did any research or looked
forward to visiting, etc.); and that, by making tourism as cheap as possible,
Iceland is encouraging people who employ algorithm #2 to visit, without really
increasing the number of people who visit due to employing algorithm #1 (who,
presumably, are the ones they’d actually like to have as tourists.)

~~~
esoterica
Iceland is not going to be near the top of any affordability list, cheap
flights or not.

------
mothsonasloth
[Warning ascerbic and anecdotal story below]

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 / Fjallraven) and discussed their plans to mount Kirkjufell.

Iceland is the mecca for many hipsters at least for the UK.

I put it down to Sigur Ros, Game of Thrones and that its still not a very
touristy place.

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.

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.

I just worry now that the Scottish government are trying to market the
highlands and outer islands as the "Iceland of the UK".

~~~
52-6F-62
I can assure you that it's also a destination for hipsters in Canada, if not
much of North America.

I've long wanted to go, myself—but it's a touch out of range. It's expensive
enough to plan a trip to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or the Yukon (from
Toronto)!

------
jihadjihad
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're used to
viewing the world through a screen.

~~~
justaguyhere
Same everywhere. I still remember going to the NY ball drop new year's eve -
all I could see was camera flashes, hundreds of them every second. It was
disgusting. I was one of the very few people who wanted to see stuff with
naked eye :(

Do these super talented artistic photographers see the photos they take, even
once, after they have taken it?

~~~
tomxor
> Do these super talented artistic photographers see the photos they take,
> even once, after they have taken it?

Nope, similarly the affect of using cameras in museums has been studied
before. In real life it's pretty blatantly obvious that 99% of people don't go
to museums and galleries for their interest any more, it's all about being
pretentious and shoving as many pictures on facebook as possible so their
friends think they are cultured. every time I go there are people who never
look away from their phone, just take a picture, next, take a picture, next...
all the way.

I find it difficult not to be disgusted by it. If all they really wanted was a
picture they could have bought a book far more easily, but they don't want a
picture, and they aren't interested, they just want to put it on facebook.

I try to ignore them but they often try to make you get out of the way for
their important pictures of EVERYTHING if you dare to appreciate something
with your actual eyeballs for more than 20 seconds.

Ok enough this thread is not helping my attitude towards people.

~~~
magduf
I take tons of photos when I go on vacation in a foreign country, but I don't
put them on Facebook. I do put them on Google Photos so interested people (who
I specifically invite) can look at them if they choose. (GP also has some
convenient features, like being able to add descriptions/commentary to each
photo, and being able to see on a map where it was taken.)

Getting a photo book wouldn't help me though. I like to take photos of many
things that tourist photos don't show: random city streets, bicycles, vending
machines, cars, graffiti, other tourists, locals, shopping districts,
residential districts, trains, signs, Apple stores, grocery stores, etc. I
like to try to capture what life is really like in a place, good and bad, and
a book of tourist photos isn't going to show you that.

~~~
tomxor
> I like to take photos of many things that tourist photos don't show: random
> city streets, bicycles, vending machines, cars, graffiti, other tourists,
> locals, shopping districts, residential districts, trains, signs, Apple
> stores, grocery stores, etc. I like to try to capture what life is really
> like in a place, good and bad, and a book of tourist photos isn't going to
> show you that.

That's great, it's good to take photos like that as a tourist and I wouldn't
judge anyone taking photos of any kind in that whole category. But to be
clear, i'm talking about something quite different, they are not photos, they
are just an extension of social network selfies, "proof I was here", it's
about excessive concern with self-image and nothing else - when taken to the
extreme in the ways I so commonly see now, it has absolutely no relation to
how one takes a genuine photo to capture happy moments, personally unique
interests etc when visiting or exploring. These other people have become the
extremities of a robot feeding an algorithm.

------
buboard
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.

------
siphon22
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.

------
randogogogo
I was just there a couple weeks ago. The only incident I saw of this was a
recently married couple taking photo's on a cliff, they went out over the
ropes, a misstep probably would have killed them.

Also when you rent a car there, they inform you that going off road is
prohibited. I guess some people choose not to listen.

~~~
jschwartzi
Yeah, people die taking selfies pretty much every year on one of our local
hikes here in Washington. It's the easiest trail with a spectacular
view(~1200ft of gain) in the entire metro area, so people flock to it in
droves. It's a hike out to a cliff that looks down on a valley floor.

Every single "outdoorsy" girl on Tinder has a picture of themselves there,
standing in front of the precipice.

There's also the easiest snowy mountain in the state, which everyone hikes up
every year in tennis shoes as soon as the trailhead opens. One year Search &
Rescue was called 4 times in one week because some hikers got stranded in the
snow because they chose not to do any basic research about the conditions and
assumed that since they wear tennis shoes during the winter, hiking through
foot-deep snow in them is definitely okay. That week the county sheriff went
on the news and asked people to please stop hiking that mountain for a couple
of months.

~~~
magduf
What they need is a "stupid hiker fee". Some states require hikers to buy a
hiking pass, and the fees for this fund rescues, but if someone doesn't get
the pass and needs to be rescued, they can be charged the entire cost of the
rescue.

~~~
randogogogo
<squinty face>This sound an awful lot like insurance.</squinty face>

~~~
magduf
Basically, that's what it is. The park or local government is selling these
"passes" which really amount to insurance, so that that government has the
money to pay for rescues if they need to (or if rescuees don't/can't pay), and
maybe also for other expenses involved in park upkeep. "Use fees" for public
parks are not uncommon. Virginia State parks generally charge such fees for
parking, for instance, as does Grand Canyon NP.

------
rb808
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't do it any more and have to stay in hotels now -
which they can't afford. Just another reason to leave the region and move to a
big city.

------
cdelsolar
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'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.

------
nwatson
In the meantime, Icelandickers themselves trashing their ecosystem:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAubG28uODM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAubG28uODM)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uba84Q6qwKM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uba84Q6qwKM)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmLbLCMb4QQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmLbLCMb4QQ)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvc0ypXkjcQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvc0ypXkjcQ)

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

~~~
tomxor
Ok, but make sure it's active, we don't want them polluting inactive craters
:)

------
alistairSH
I noticed this when I visited Iceland a few years ago. Lots of tourists
littering, jumping over barriers/ropes at waterfalls, and ignoring the signs
that say "don't go near the ocean - it washed away a family last week!" Stupid
and selfish on so many levels.

Sadly, I also noticed the same thing on Skye last month.

It goes beyond just numbers of tourists (a problem in and of itself, and one
I'm obviously part of). Some people are just selfish pricks.

------
tomxor
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
"normal" people with no previous interest in nature to go and e.g have their
piece of the pie for their worthless facebook pic.

Anecdotally, I've seen this multiple times on smaller scales in nature
reserves in the UK, social networking and selfies definitely play a big role.
It's usually the places with easy access, almost no commitment or effort
required, easy selfie opportunities... in these locations in recent years i'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.

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.

~~~
akuji1993
Went on a roadtrip through England in 2017 with a friend.

Your second paragraph was the reason we didn't like it at Stonehenge. Busses
and busses of people, littering everywhere. They had to prohibit going near
the rocks, as people would break off parts of it to take home (who in their
right mind would fucking do this), draw on them, damage them otherwise... Huge
bummer for me and my friend.

On the other hand, wandering through Dartmoor, meeting 5 people the whole day
was absolutely one of the best memories of the trip. Easy access, no effort
required is exactly the tourist category that we didn't enjoy in the end.

~~~
magduf
I visited Japan a couple months ago during "Golden Week", which is their big
national vacation week. Several of the sites I visited were absolutely packed
with (Japanese) tourists. No one was vandalizing anything, littering, or even
acting rude and obnoxious, or in any way I could see breaking any of the
rules. As an American, it was rather weird because American tourists wouldn't
be like this at all. It's pretty amazing to see a culture where people know
how to act properly even when there's a high degree of crowding.

~~~
tomxor
There are pros and cons of that culture though, Japan takes it to the other
extreme from what i've read.

~~~
magduf
What extreme is that? As far as visiting when it's packed with Japanese
tourists, I didn't see any downside aside from (obviously) some long lines and
lots of people in the gardens.

Sure, Japan has some issues such as too much overwork in their culture, but
America has that too. How many Silicon Valley engineers only work 40 hours?
And how many poorer people have multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet and
they still can't afford health insurance?

------
morsmodr
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't really interact with
nature without destroying it in some way or the other.

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't know if this is even a word) think they are
inspiring people. What do I know ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

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.

------
doctorRetro
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.

------
dontbenebby
>Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

Rightfully so!

My city recently opened up a direct flight to Reykjavík.

Sadly, I've seen how people treat _our_ national parks.

I hope Iceland use the increased tourism revenue to up their ranger presence
and fine and/or deport the offenders.

To Iceland if you're listening: we're not all bad, I promise :)

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

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d-sc
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).

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

Iceland is a role model in this regard.

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henryaj
Typo in title: should be "Icelanders".

~~~
magduf
Unfortunately, you're wrong here. This is from BBC, and they're using a very
peculiar and annoying British-ism where they refer to an entity in the plural
sense. They do it all the time with companies, saying something like
"[Company] have announced earnings" instead of "[Company] _has_ announced
earnings" as in American English. Their reasoning is that the company (or
country in this case) is composed of many people, so you should use plural.
But it's awkward-sounding and annoying, and really doesn't make sense. An
individual person is composed of billions of cells, but we don't refer to him
or her with the plural tense.

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

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5040
There may come a time where tourists are tagged with GPS trackers. Those who
go off the beaten path could face fines.

~~~
asnack
Maybe a GPS tracker attached around the neck and it zaps you if you go off
course.

That might lead to weird rise in BDSM tourism to your area

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shiven
They need tougher laws & throw these digital attention whores into prison for
2 years. Deny them access to their IG, or all SM, for the entire time.

Guaranteed to stop bad behavior.

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CaptainZapp
Easy:

Hand every tourist a brochure about the Do's and Dont's. Aka, like Singapore
prints warnings (DEATH TO DRUG TRAFFICKERS) on their landing cards.

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.

The problem will solve itself in short time.

~~~
rando444
We have something like that, which you find in the airport and various places.

[https://www.inspiredbyiceland.com/icelandicpledge/](https://www.inspiredbyiceland.com/icelandicpledge/)

The people that need to read it the most though, either don't or don't care.

~~~
CaptainZapp
This should just be common sense to every traveller anywhere.

It's really a sad reflection of where we stand that this does not seem to be
the case.

Thanks for the link.

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jmsmistral
*Iceland tires ...

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growlist
At first they were just shitting up the Web - now it's the real world too :(

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September)

~~~
cameronbrown
This isn't even remotely comparable to the tragedy of nature being so
carelessly trashed.

~~~
colanderman
I think it's an analogy, not a comparison. "Eternal September" being a time
when there is a ceaseless influx of those who are unaware / uncaring of the
rules.

~~~
cameronbrown
It's not really a ceaseless influx if those people are inevitably leaving.

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wmne
Okay, so restrict their entrance and live without their tourism money. :')

~~~
kd5bjo
That would require withdrawing from Schengen, and probably the EEA, impacting
Icelanders’ travel rights to Europe.

~~~
Symbiote
That's one option, but another would be taxes: increase landing tax for
flights, hotel tax, car rental tax, tourist services tax, etc.

Or simply limit numbers: require that people buy tickets to enter particular
places (including national parks), and restrict entry once the place is
"full".

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

