Tourism is one of the largest industries in Iceland. The number of tourists went from almost 500 in 2010 to over 2,3 million in 2018, when it peaked. This year, the number of tourists is expected to exceed 2 million.

In cooperation between the government and the tourism industry, a future vision has been defined for the industry until the year 2030. The future vision of Icelandic tourism is to be a leader in sustainable development based on economic, environmental and social balance.

But policies are followed by actions, and therefore the Minister of Tourism appointed seven working groups that were tasked with working out proposals for actions into action plan for tourism policy until 2030. It is expected that the strategy and action plan will be submitted to Alþingi in the form of a proposal for a parliamentary resolution in the spring 2024 parliament.

The first action proposals from the working groups are now available for comment in the consultation portal. When the proposals of the working groups are scrutinized, in my opinion, common priorities emerge. They are sustainability, research, data and analysis, education and quality, load management, licensing and supervision.

The tourism competence center has been involved in the formulation of the first proposals for actions regarding competence and quality. The competence center works on the basis of the tourism industry in promoting competence and quality in the industry.

The deadline for writing a comment in the consultation portal is November 23, 2023. Subsequently, the suggestions made during the formulation of the final proposals will be taken into account and they will be published in the consultation portal.

It is important that those who are closest to the industry look at the proposals that have been made and form an opinion on them.

In order to shed light on the proposals that are currently up for comment, Höfnisetur tourisminn and Samtok tourisminn will announce Menntamorgunn in streaming on Monday, November 20 at 09:00 – 10:00.

At the meeting, there will be a presentation of the main focuses contained in the groups' proposals, and then we will go deeper into the proposals regarding competence and quality.

The meeting is open to everyone and more information about the program can be obtained here.

And finally, posting a review in the consultation portal is simple and the interface is convenient. They don't have to be extensive and formal, they can touch on the issue as a whole or individual aspects and can be from individuals, companies, institutions, organizations or anyone who wants to make their voice heard.

Article published on visir.is on November 17, 2023. The author is Haukur Harðarson, project manager of Hæfnisetur tourism.

Click here to read the article on visir.is