A new study reveals that every second American thinks of Iceland as a highly appealing place to visit, reports Kastljós.
“Back in 1999, simply put, Iceland did not exist on the map for the U.S consumer” said Nellie Gregorian, president of the market research company Fluent, in an interview with Kastljós last night. ”It just wasn’t on the radar, and there were very few Icelandic products – if any- on the shelves of U.S stores. So there was very little awareness and the appeal of Iceland as a travel destination was very low. So was interest in learning more about Iceland.”
Gregorian attributes the uptick in awareness to a conflation of several factors including international media coverage of the 2008 banking crisis, the presence of Icelandic nature in a number of films and television shows as well as Eyjafjallajökull.
“Of course the volcano eruption in 2010 made huge waves,” Gregorian said. “And at the time it may have been negative but once the ash clouds dissipated [sentiment] actually turned positive. In this particular case the old saying that there is no bad news as far as advertising and promotions are concerned was true.”
According to the most recent study American men are more likely to be interested in visiting Iceland than American women. Younger people are also more likely to express interest than their older counterparts. Interest in Iceland is especially high among well educated people with an expendable income and those who enjoy camping.
In the last few years however, this group has expanded to include demographics that enjoy city breaks after much campaigning on Iceland’s part to promote Reykjavík as a thriving hub of culture and music.
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