Travel Blackboard: Volcano erupts Iceland tourism
Iceland became an overnight tourism hotspot after Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in April last year, the country’s tourism officials said.
Despite creating chaos for the aviation industry, the European country reported the volcanic activity increased tourism from North America by 16 percent in the first 11 months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.
Based in New York, Iceland tourism director Einar Gustavsson said the volcano was all the advertising the country needed.
“There wasn’t a daily newspaper on Earth that didn’t cover the story,” he said.
“Google reported 16,000 stories in a single day, and even a Saturday Night Live skit imagined Bjork singing to Eyjafjallaj?kull to calm it down.”
Mr Gustavsson said that as the volcano cooled tourism heated up.
“Travel in 2011 from North America is expected to be up 20 percent over 2010, helped in part by Delta, which launches a new service in spring 2011,” he added.
“The US carrier becomes the third airline to serve the country, adding seats to those already provided by Icelandair and Iceland Express.”
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