In a recent poll taken by national broadcasting service RÚV, 87% said they believe the government should impose larger fees or taxes on tourists who visit Iceland. Only 10% said they were against the idea.
According to the latest figures, over 1.2 million tourists visited Iceland in 2015, showing an increase of over 29% from the year previous.
While the spending revenue generated from tourism has been steadily climbing – while revenue from aluminium and fishing has actually been in decline – many Icelanders have been greatly concerned with the burden this number of visitors place on the domestic infrastructure.
One idea that was put forward was the “Nature Pass”; a flat fee that incoming tourists would pay to visit Iceland’s numerous sites of natural wonder, with the proceeds to go towards the care and upkeep of these locations. The proposal failed to gain support in parliament, and died last year.
Since then, the government has still yet to put forward a proposal that could use some of tourists’ revenue to maintain these sites.
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