The South Iceland District Court has ruled that it is against the law for private actors to charge admission to visit Geysir. The landowners are considering blocking all traffic to the site in retribution.
According to the court’s decision, the private company that has been charging tourists to visit Geysir, Landeigendafélag Geysis ehf., simply does not have the legal standing to charge admission to the site. They are therefore sentenced to cease charging admission at once, and to pay 500,000 ISK in legal fees.
The matter, however, may be far from over.
RÚV now reports that Garðar Eiríksson, a spokesperson for Landeigendafélag Geysis ehf., says they are considering closing off all access to the site. Garðar claims that nature conservation laws give them the authority to close the site, if they so desire.
As reported, there has been considerable pushing back and forth between the private landowners around Geysir and the Icelandic government. With an initial charge of 600 ISK for visitors 17 and older proposed to go into effect last March, Left-Green MP Ögmundur Jónasson later invited people to visit Geysir and ignore the tolls.
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