9. Tourism Resolving Crisis?

This chapter explores the growth of tourism in Iceland in the context of tourism policy and strategy as it manifests in the wake of the financial crash in autumn 2008. Tourism in Iceland has grown from being practically nonexistent in the mid-twentieth century to being one of the three key sectors of the economy. This growth and the role of tourism in the economy has been sporadically recognized with interest in tourism in public debates and policy flaring up in times of crisis in the nation’s primary industries. Similarly, after the 2008 credit crunch, great hopes were tied to tourism and a kind of gold rush mentality ensued. The main tenent of the pro-tourism argument is the economic value of tourism and this argument is readorned each time tourism surfaces in public policy. Thus, tourism policy is seen as recurring, thus maintaining the tourism production system, ultimately producing Iceland as a tourism destination. The chapter concludes by arguing that the recurrence of policy in the context of Icelandic tourism fundamentally challenges expectations and hopes tied to tourism in the wake of the economic recession of 2008.