In reply to Toby_W:
Toby, their tourism numbers have almost tripled in the last 10 years which although a good thing seems to be putting pressure on the country. In reykjavic the rental market for locals has been damaged by landlords realising they can make more money from holiday let's and so there is a bit of animosity towards tourists. Outside the city the increased footfall at popular attractions has lead to erosion as the Icelanders don't seem to keen to put in footpaths. But they are happy to complain.
We chatted to a university lecturer who was looking into things and she also mentioned that tour operators from the city are taking folks onto the glaciers without proper knowledge. She also said they were thinking of brining in a sort of environmental tax for all tourists to be put back into the land, for facilities and footpaths ect. They may also be looking to reduce numbers in some areas or close campsites to restrict footfall to day traffic only. We spoke to the rescue teams as well who seem to spend most of their time rescuing tourists who cant drive their rental 4x4 and get stuck or idiots who drive off road and leave huge ruts in the delicate landscape.
They also seem anti cycle tourers as they don't seem to think we spend much money in the country, although our thoughts were that we did, and in more remote locations than most tourists get. ( we were there for 5 weeks and went round the east and down the sprengisander). Our impression was they are just a bit overwhelmed and struggling to deal with the increase in tourists at the moment but will hopefully find ways to resolve that.
Ele, have a look at
http://www.icelandtrails.com/ put together by the Kria guys. This route was physically very demanding and crossed high plateau s where you can get scary blizzards even in summer. Probably better as a hike than a bike
Cheers, annie
