radishhead said:
pezus said:
I'm going to make a reply in a few hours. I'm going away for a bit now. But, are you asking what there is to do in Iceland? |
Thanks loads xD Obviously don't go out of your way to get loads of information for me, but I just thought that VGChartz would be able to help me a little :D
Basically, I'm looking for a bit of information on:
Opportunities:
- Employment (What sort of jobs are available that are related to tourism in Iceland?)
Lots of jobs I think. Just what you'd expect in other places: guides, drivers, people working at restaurants and shops near tourist attractions. Probably the most popular thing to do among tourists is to go on "The Golden Circle" (Gullfoss ("Golden waterfall"), Geysir, Þingvellir), with guides of course. Then there are of course hotel and motel workers.
- Infrastructure improvement (ie. any buildings built for the use of tourism?)
I'm not exactly sure what you mean here. But sure, there have been lots of buildings built with tourists mainly in mind, like restaurants and shops on The Golden Circle and most recently Harpa, which was intended to attract more tourists to the country. Then we have the "Phallus Museum" (Reðursafnið) in Húsavík, where you can go whale watching as well.
- Environmental protection (are there any measures put in place to reduce environmental impact from tourism?)
Hmmm not sure about this, but we are very concerned about the environment. Don't exactly know how exactly this is done, but I guess it's mainly down to the government. Þingvellir (where the old parliament was) became a national park in 1930 to protect the nature there (The North American and Eurasian plates meet here along the Mid-Atlantic ridge: pic). So, you can walk from America to Europe in seconds there 
Problems:
- Social and cultural change (ie. Is there part of the Icelandic culture that has been changed or diluted as a result of tourism?)
Not much that I know of. Most of the changes (if any) are because of immigrants, rather than tourists. And, as you might know, our language has barely changed for around one thousand years, so we can read and understand text from the old days even now. That is pretty cool.
- Inequality (probably not a huge problem in Iceland)
In general? Iceland is very much almost equal for everyone, except for slightly lower wages for women on average in some professions, but that is changing quickly. I think it's pretty easy for foreigners to get jobs here too.
- Environmental degredation (negative environmental inpacts in general)
Due to tourism? One place I know of that was always in the news a few years back, Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant. Many didn't want it because they thought it was ruining the environment and the beautiful landscape there (one article: here - but it is very biased). Otherwise
If you could, could you throw in a couple of specific place names where these things are taking place?
Thanks again :p Don't worry if you can't think of anything btw :)
|
