Eliza Reid, wife of the current Icelandic President Gudni Johannesson, who was a UN tourism ambassador, said that safety, respect and communication with locals are factors that contribute to making this Nordic island nation a "magnet" for domestic and foreign tourists.
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| Iceland's First Lady Eliza Reid. |
In July 7, Eliza Reid and her husband Gudni Johannesson held a wedding anniversary party in Reykjavik, Iceland. Summer evenings, lots of people walking outside. Reid suggested going for a walk with her husband after the party. However, at first, President Gudni Johannesson was hesitant because he did not want to meet the crowd "crazy" to take selfies.
"I told my husband not to worry." Reid recalls and she was right, "We went out and of course, nobody recognized him because it was mostly tourists."
In the 20 years since moving to Iceland to live and work, Eliza Reid (Canadian) has seen the tourism industry in this Nordic island nation grow by leaps and bounds with the number of tourists increasing sharply from a modest few hundred thousand to more than 2 million visitors a year before the Covid-19 pandemic. That is truly a feat for a country like Iceland with a population of less than 400.
The explosion of Iceland's tourism industry, which Reid says has brought opportunities as well as challenges for the Nordic country, is a change she witnessed as well as participated in that "changing flesh" journey.
In 2016, when her husband was elected the new President of Iceland, Reid was working as an editor for an in-flight magazine of Iceland Airlines. Three years later, as First Lady, Reid took on the role of both promoting trade and promoting the image of a tourist destination for Iceland.
In a conversation with the New York Times reporter, the First Lady of Iceland shared about how tourists meet Icelanders as well as thinking about the term "overtourism".
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Iceland's tourism industry has shown a strong boom in the 20 years since she arrived in the country. How did that change happen?
Traveling has opened up more of us. You can see an increase in destinations if you fly directly from Iceland, the number of restaurants and cafes in Reykjavik. Stores and many locations are also open later and longer than in the past.
Icelanders love to travel. They are always curious and interested in the outside world, and are also happy if the outside world is interested in us. You'll see it in the statistics on how Icelanders feel about tourism here, because tourism has been a huge contributor to Iceland's economy and we're very proud of this country.
In her book "The Secret of Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They're Changing the World," she argues that tourism helped pull Iceland out of the 2008 economic crisis?
Yes, there is an economic crisis and there is a volcano eruption. At first glance, both seem negative but in some ways beneficial.
The volcano erupted, traffic through Europe halted, and then many people realized that Iceland was much closer than they thought. Iceland is not far away, difficult to access, and in some ways offers a sense of wonder. Then we saw the tourism boom.
You know, 25 years before I first went to Iceland, people who met me asked in surprise, “You mean to Iceland?” And now people will say, “Oh, I will go there,” or “My neighbor is going,” or “I want to go.” Iceland is more present in people's memories.
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Immediately after the volcanic eruption in 2010, the Icelandic tourism promotion campaign "Inspired by Iceland" was launched. I am told that more than 25% of the Icelandic workforce participates in that activity.
People will invite their friends to visit Iceland. I also participated and so did many others. The campaign was executed brilliantly and conveyed many important messages about sustainability, as well as the commitment of Icelanders to responsible tourism.
I think tourists want to learn about the countries they visit and what that destination can do, the problem is sometimes they don't know how to find that information. The Icelandic Pledge is a great way to remind people to be kind to nature and make sure you have a travel plan in place in case something happens.
In her book, she suggests that one of the best ways for travelers to get to know Icelanders is to soak in a hot tub at a geothermal pool. Why so?
They say if you want to meet an Englishman, go to a pub; If you want to meet a French person, go to a cafe. And definitely in Iceland you go to a swimming pool, because that's where you can meet people – morning, afternoon or evening. And I recommend visitors to try different types of pools, because all of them have their own character and you can meet different types of people. Those places are always clean and affordable, and that's what all the locals are committed to.
Reading her book, I feel the Icelandic community is increasingly diverse, but still very close together.
At the end of the week, I have to buy a bra – you know, it's a fun experience. I was talking to the woman who worked at the store, and the woman in the dressing room next door said: "I know that voice." And that's our Chief Medical Officer - just like Anthony Fauci of Iceland. And we laugh that only in Iceland do we run into each other in a lingerie store. The next day I ran into her again in the grocery store. And you will think: Iceland is a small country.
A few years before the pandemic, Iceland began to attract media attention because of "overtourism"?
In my opinion, overtourism is an unfair term. Yes, the increase in tourist numbers and the percentage increase is huge, but much of that has to do with seasonality. People usually come in the summer because you can't be anywhere in the countryside in winter. But now, two-thirds of people travel in other seasons too, not just in the summer months. They come to our country all year round and visit more.
In the larger European cities, you will find accommodation and affordable housing challenges. We see that here too. But overall, I think tourism is a good thing if it is managed properly and we have long term sustainability plans. Tourism brings capital to the economy. That's why it's good to have more family-owned and operated businesses. We need big corporations; they are paying a lot of taxes.
In 2017, she was appointed as the United Nations Special Ambassador for Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals.
2017 is the United Nations Year of Sustainable Tourism and I am delighted to have been given that role. I think the sustainability perspective is very, very important. It suits a lot of my personal tastes, also because so many women work in the travel industry. And I'm really interested in exploring this idea of tourism as a path to peace, especially in formerly conflict zones.
What do you hope people can learn from a visit to this Nordic island nation?
I think when we travel we miss the people we meet, the cultural experiences we have and everything that comes with it. I'm reading Stanley Tucci's book, and he calls Icelandic food a discovery. I think he was looking forward to pickled ram's testicles and rotting shark - but he had this wonderful meal. And that's something we remember in our travels.
