Tourism in times of crisis: exploring the discourse of tourism development in Iceland

This paper explores the growth of tourism in Iceland and sets current policy discourses in the context of the global credit crunch of 2008. Tourism in Iceland has grown from being practically non-existent in the mid-twentieth century to being one of the three key sectors of the economy. With this growth, Iceland, as many other island states, started paying more attention to the potentialities of tourism as a development option. However, interest in tourism in public debates and policy seems to become prominent in times of economic crisis while it wanes during years of economic growth. In this light, the paper will relate discourses of tourism to the present condition of economic recession and potential crisis, especially when it comes to government policies. This paper investigates the relationship between tourism and crisis as it features in public discourse in Iceland, and aims at clarifying the implications this particular discourse on tourism has on tourism development in Iceland.