PM Hoping To Respond To Increasing Tourism In South Iceland

Some public offices in South Iceland are in need of help to address growing tourism, and the Prime Minister hopes to respond effectively.

Prime Minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson was a guest on Kastljós last night, where amongst the topics of discussion was tourism. The industry has been booming in sparsely-populated South Iceland, and some public offices – such as the police and local health clinics – are too underfunded and understaffed to keep up.

Sigurður said that the financial crash of 2009 precipitated a dramatic increase in tourism in Iceland. At the same time, cuts were made to the infrastructure budget that made things difficult to keep up with the increasing number of guests.

As such, one of the ways the government is responding is increasing funding to South Iceland police to the tune of some 1.4 billion ISK in total. In addition, patrols of the Highlands will also be stepped up.

Additional measures are still in the works, and are being crafted with participation from tourism industry workers.