Representatives from Iceland’s travel industry met in Borgarnes on 22 October to discuss government taxation and its impacts on the sector. The meeting, titled ‘Mótvindur, eru stjórnvöld helsta hindrun ferðaþjónustunnar?’ (‘Headwind, are the authorities the main obstacle to tourism?’), took place at Hjálmaklettur, the cultural house Menningarhúsið Borgarfjarðar in the town of Borgarnes, western Iceland. The event was first reported by Bæjarins besta and covered by Vísir.
The meeting was organised by the Icelandic Travel Industry Association (Samtök ferðaþjónustunnar), the Marketing Office of West Iceland, and the Marketing Office of the Westfjords. The Westfjords are a sparsely populated, mountainous region in north-west Iceland. According to Vísir, the event is part of a series of discussions held around the country by the Icelandic Travel Industry Association.
Participants at the Borgarnes meeting identified increased government taxation as a principal challenge facing the travel sector. The issue of how such taxes might hinder tourism development was a main topic of conversation, according to local media reports.
During the meeting, the prime minister said, “We are going to fix Iceland.” The remark was reported by mbl.is. It is not specified whether the comment referred directly to the taxation issue.
Sources
Links: minjastofnun.is · vef SAF · Skráning á fundinn!
- Borgarbyggð in Icelandic
- Bæjarins besta (first reported) in Icelandic
- Vísir in Icelandic
- mbl.is in Icelandic
Image: Steinninn / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0) · licence, original (resized) Illustrative image.
