No tourist official wishes for a volcanic eruption in their back yard. And the world-famous Eyjafjallajokull created misery for millions of travelers but it also led to a 16 percent increase in tourism from North America for the first 11 months of this year.
Tourism officials for the island nation got creative following the volcanic ash that also led to numerous shut-downs of airports all across Europe.
“Volcano Tours” began as Icelanders offered guided excursions to view the volcano and the ash-filled valleys below. By summer, visits to the volcano rivaled attendance at the country’s other best-known attraction, the famed Blue Lagoon spa. There was publicity even on ABC-TV’s “The Bachelorette” program.
“The eruption became our best advertising,” Einar Gustavsson, the New York-based Tourism Director for Iceland in North America,” told eTurboNews.
“There wasn’t a daily newspaper on Earth that didn’t cover the story. Google reported 16,000 stories in a single day.”
But that’s not all.
Travel next year from North America is expected to be up about 20 percent over 2010, said Gustavsson.
Another boost: Delta starts new service next spring.
By David Wilkening
