NZTRI Organises Workshop on Geotourism in Iceland

The sustainability of tourism in Iceland has been on the agenda for over a decade, resulting in the adoption of several certification schemes and policies from national through to regional stakeholders. Hitherto no scheme has been introduced to manage nature-based destinations in Iceland with special emphasis on the maintenance of the physical integrity of the destination.

Mývatn and the surrounding area is well known for its varied natural attractions. Key to the destinations success is nature‘s physical integrity and a mutually beneficial relationship to tourism in the area. The National Geographic Geotourism Charter offers a way to develop products around these nature based attractions that adheres to the principals of sustainability with special focus on a place’s physical integrity.

In order to adopt this in Northeast Iceland, where NZTRI’s Dr. John S. Hull has served as Project Director for the regional tourism plan, the Regional Development Office (Atthing), in collaboration with Trade Council of Iceland, the Icelandic Tourism Research Centre, Svartarkot, and the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute are sponsoring a two day workshop at Hotel Gígur September 2 -4. The key note presenter and work shop facilitator will be David Newsome, the author of the book Geotourism. Sustainability, Impact, Management (Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005) and Natural Area Tourism (Channel View Publications, 2002).