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Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

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221–230 of 252 posts

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#221
post #210
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem being that tourism is one of Iceland's biggest sources of income. Selling out sucks, but starving is worse

What they really need to do is come up with a "preferred tourist visa", where people (regardless of national origin) are only able to get this after being interviewed to make sure they're properly respectful of the local culture and environment, and if they get caught doing something wrong (like littering, going into off-limits areas or past safety barriers, etc.), get their good-tourist visa revoked. Interested coun…

You could build this on China's social credit system...

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#222

After the volcano erupted in 2010, the government launched a PR campaign in winter 2011 to counter the projected tourism drop. It specifically targeted "inspired" and "enlightened" travelers to come see the "unique" landscape. Also in 2011, WOWair debuted with it's $99 flights to Iceland. Instagram launched in 2010. Maybe it's less "people are garbage" and more "we should make it more expensive to come here."

It was more related to this--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932011_Icelandic_fi...

They badly needed foreign currency.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worse than this - their entire life needs to be Instagram worthy. Everything they do is in the name of getting the next perfect shot, so they can influence others in the name of social advertising to make a quick buck. They either become proficient photographers, videographers and writers or they team up with those who are, capitalizing on the latest trends in photography to consolidate their brand. The problem…

Just wait until social influencers receive Libra's based on the amount of likes their pictures get.

It would make sense for them to get it based on the amount of profits their work generates.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#224
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first time I experienced this in nature was last year in Yosemite. So many people were climbing over barriers and walking in places where they shouldn't, it was horrible. I've experienced this a lot in Amsterdam too, however. Tourists are treating Amsterdam like it isn't a real city. Especially the British seem to have no respect and treat Amsterdam like it's Vegas, but with less American cops.

Yellowstone is truly the worst for this. It's an extremely fragile natural wonder populated by some of the most disrespectful tourists the world can offer. I actually cannot conceive of how the park rangers there manage to keep their cool day after day.

Why do they allow it at all? Are there no rules or laws that they can invoke / enforce for this?

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#225
post #224
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yellowstone is truly the worst for this. It's an extremely fragile natural wonder populated by some of the most disrespectful tourists the world can offer. I actually cannot conceive of how the park rangers there manage to keep their cool day after day.

Why do they allow it at all? Are there no rules or laws that they can invoke / enforce for this?

[deleted]

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#226
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, people die taking selfies pretty much every year on one of our local hikes here in Washington. It's the easiest trail with a spectacular view(~1200ft of gain) in the entire metro area, so people flock to it in droves. It's a hike out to a cliff that looks down on a valley floor. Every single "outdoorsy" girl on Tinder has a picture of themselves there, standing in front of the precipice. There's also the easies…

What they need is a "stupid hiker fee". Some states require hikers to buy a hiking pass, and the fees for this fund rescues, but if someone doesn't get the pass and needs to be rescued, they can be charged the entire cost of the rescue.

This sound an awful lot like insurance.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#227
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went there in the winter (when things are generally a bit cheaper) a couple of years ago and it wasn't too bad. Food, however, was incredibly expensive everywhere. No where else have I spent nearly $20 USD for a meal at a fast food restaurant.

If you'd eaten the local cuisine it would have been cheaper. Importing goods to an island is expensive.

I went to a number of local places and they were all about the same as this. I even went to a fish and chips place in Reykjavik expecting it to be cheaper since they certainly don't need to import fish, but it wasn't. Another tiny family-owned restaurant in Vik was the same as well. I honestly couldn't find cheaper food.

I do understand the difficulty in importing food to an isolated island with only 100k people. I'm just not sure that fully accounts for the increasingly high food prices across the board.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#228
post #220
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our whole society is based on trying to make things easy and convenient. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that people have the same attitude towards traveling and nature. Iceland could fix this easily by making places less accessible but then the tourist money would stop flowing. In the end they have to make a choice. Limit accessibility or number of tourists and lose some money or accept the negative consequences…

Slightly Off topic ( Not relating to nature and bad behaviour ). We have far too many tourist problem everywhere, and some locals aren't too happy with it. Its not that they don't like tourist, there are just far too many. I have been wondering, if there are any bills, tax or something in similar effort to bring the cost up, like any market would do with high demand. In ways that government can collect and ( in theor…

If carbon emissions get taxed higher between now and 2050, expect the cost of airplane tickets to go up substantially.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#229
post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wait until social influencers receive Libra's based on the amount of likes their pictures get.

It would make sense for them to get it based on the amount of profits their work generates.

Libras based on the value of ads FB sold while people were liking the post then.

Re: Iceland tire of tourists trashing their nature

#230

I call this the 'Disney World' effect of nature tourism. Self-involved, entitled people who treat national parks and the wilderness like an amusement park that has been set aside for their entertainment. They expect the natural world to cater to their whims the same way a Disney world employee does, and they just do not understand that's not how the world works.

I feel it’s worse

> Some instagrammers are sponsored by companies and don't obey pretty easy rules just to get a more spectacular photo from a slightly different angle.

Their followers are of course to blame to encourage these behaviors, but this whole situation where there’s strong financial incentive to act dickishly is guaranted to never stop.

I was thinking, perhaps when punishment gets really severe, but then I imagine all these videos about how they got around the rules or defied authority.

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