The director of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association says that while significant progress has been made in enhancing safety within the tourism sector over recent years, the alarming number of accidents this year highlights the urgent need for improved infrastructure at hazardous tourist sites, reports RÚV.
Jóhannes Þór Skúlason emphasizes the importance of building infrastructure in areas where there is a risk of people straying off hiking trails or paths into dangerous environments. The Iceland Tourist Board (Ferðamálastofa) has played a significant role in this regard. Jóhannes mentions that other measures are being considered to ensure the safety of tourists.
“There has been discussion, among other things, in the context of the Tourism Policy, about implementing incident reporting for accidents in the tourism sector, similar to what is done in shipping and related fields. This would be a beneficial idea. It would allow employees in the companies who witness or are involved in incidents to report them anonymously. For example, staff would not have to worry about upsetting their employer. Such reporting should not cause that,” says Jóhannes.
“It would provide us with data about accidents and show us where they occur in the country and under what circumstances. This will help us address those issues and improve the infrastructure and conditions that need to be fixed where accidents happen.”
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