Climate change and tourism’s relational impact on Iceland: A political ecological perspective

Abstract:

Tourism is a major economic driver for Iceland, particularly tourism that focuses on its physical features.  Yet many of those features, particularly its glaciers, glacial lagoons, and waterfalls, are directly impacted by climate change.  A juxtaposition is emerging in which some heavily tourist features are being negatively impacted by climate change – such as the rapidly receding Solheimajokull glacial tongue – while other features are actually improving as tourist attractions as a result of climate change – such as Seljalandsfoss and its secondary waterfalls. 

This paper focuses on the political ecology of tourism in Iceland in relation to the impacts that climate change has, and continues to have, upon this country.  The primary focus will be on five popular tourist sites in southern Iceland, exploring this relationship qualitatively based on participant observation and fieldwork conducted in June and July 2021, as part of NCGE’s GeoCamp Iceland 2021 cohort.  While there are direct connections here with the work on “last chance” tourism, this political ecology potentially complicates this dynamic as features gain new attraction, through the perception of improvement, as a result of underlying “last chance” factors in play.

Keywords: last chance tourism, nature theming, Iceland, tourism, political ecology

Authors: