The dramatic increase in Chinese tourism to Iceland
One small European country has seen a dramatic increase in Chinese tourists: the number of Chinese visitors to Iceland has grown from 4,000 to 129,000 in just six years. Read on for the details!
Chinese tourist arrivals to Iceland (thousands)
As you can see in the above chart, Chinese tourism has dramatically increased in just a few short years. Just look at Iceland for example. In 2010 only around 4,000 Chinese visitors traveled to this small Northern country. Six years later 129,000 Chinese tourists arrived in Iceland. Given that the country has only around 335,000 citizens, the number of Chinese tourists is very high.
Chinese tourists posing for a photo in Iceland
This sudden influx of visitors did not only create good business opportunities for Icelandic businesses, but also presented great challenges. As the Reykjavik Grapevine reports, Bjarnheiður Hallsdóttir, director of The Icelandic Travel Industry Association had expressed a more critical view of the Asian tourists, saying ““[Asians and Americans] stay for a shorter time and travel less around the country,” she said. “They stay mostly in the southwest. This development is not exactly the best for Iceland as a tourist destination.”
He elaborated that central Europeans would be “fitting better” culturally for Iceland and would spend more time in the countryside.
The comments about cultural fit hint to the challenges Iceland is facing. Educating tourism businesses about Chinese culture is a great start, but also education of the Chinese visitors to protect the Icelandic ecosystem is important.
Is the direct Icelandair flight to China coming?
China Daily has interviewed Arsaell Hardarson, Icelandair’s regional manager of Asia, Africa, Middle East & South America. The company enjoyed a double-digit growth of Chinese passengers since 2012. He attributed this increase to the extensive sales and marketing efforts made over the last decade. He even hinted at a direct flight between China and Iceland.
Some people are worried about the increase in Chinese visitors, one of them being Rajan P. Parrikar who wrote the following one the page Iceland Review “Wait until the Indians and Chinese ‘discover’ Iceland (well, the Chinese already have). Can the tourism genie be put back into the bottle and the ongoing disaster reined in? I’m afraid the answer is No.”
Still pristine: the Skógafoss in Iceland
How to manage the impact of Chinese tourists?
Tourism from China is a great opportunity for Iceland, bringing a lot of economic development for the country. Some of the negative impact has to be mitigated for tourism to be sustainable and to preserve the nature.
- Educate Chinese travelers: provide Chinese materials such as brochures already at immigration, outlining the dos and don’ts: how to dispose of trash, protect the natural environment and how to be a “responsible tourist”. Another great channel for this could be in-flight video in Iceland air.
- Train tour operators and other tourism businesses in Chinese culture. A lot of problems are due to misunderstandings and different cultural norms.
- Crowd control: limit access to key sites to a certain daily number requiring reservation
Chinese tourism is positive, but work is needed to ensure its sustainability and to minimize the negative impact.
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