Transport for Tourism in Iceland

Iceland became a topic of discussion, thus bring the country to the face of the world. The government used the eruption to advertise its wonderful sceneries of active volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, waterfalls, and many more. The cheap air transport was the key solution that affected the government dream. For eight years now, tourism has been expanding exponentially, accounting for 12. 9% of the economy's GDP, over-towering the traditional fishing sector on which the country had relied on. The impact the low-cost airlines have had on tourism will be measured by economic parameters. According to the UN Statistics Division through the approved Tourism Satellite Accounting (TSA-RMF 2008), and the World Travel Tourism Council, tourism is assessed by the direct and induced contributions to the economy.

It is clear that that massive influx of people through the airports to tour Iceland is a direct result of low-cost air tickets as it shall be demonstrated in this report. The direct commodities which have caused the economy to perform are the accommodation, transport, entertainment and attraction subdivisions. Cultural sports, transport services, recreational services, food and beverage services are the main industries associated with tourism. The boom experience from 2010 to this day caught the country in surprise. The company designed many classes for air transport which could fit all the tourist using the airline. These were the saga premium flex, saga premium, saga flex, economy flex, economy standard, and economy light classes. Each category has its own privileges and cost, meaning, no one will be locked out due to expensive flight charges.

In addition to this, Icelandair made a provision of tourist who would like to tour places in Iceland for two days—free of charge. In every country, whenever the cost of air transport is affordable, many people find it easy and comfortable to travel by flight. Tourism is the immediate industry that gets affected by the regulations made in air transport. Tourism at a Glance The analysis of tourism is done at two levels. First, the direct impact felt in the economy and second, the induced effect by the primary industries and factors of tourism. As by 2018, statistics showed that tourism had contributed directly to the economy a revenue of USD 3. Impact of Low-Cost Airlines to Tourism Tourism has been favoured greatly by the low lost cost airline tickets given to travellers from the United States and Europe.

The below shows the consistent rise of the tourist numbers to Iceland. In 2016, tourists who landed at the Keflavik airport increased by 40% (Webster and Stanislav. Figure 3: Tourists to Iceland. Source: Icelandic Tourism Board As the numbers grew bigger, WOW Air made changes to the initial $99 trips. The fact remains that low-cost airlines are the engine of the explosion witnessed. In 2015, WOW Air started another program called ultra-low cost carrier (ULCC). The figure of the US travellers through the Reykjavik’s Keflavik Airport tripled from 152,000 to 415,000 (Icelandic Tourist Board). In 2014, only 2540 airline frequencies were made between the US market and Iceland by WOW Air. After the introduction of low-cost travels, the airlines made 6,116 flights between the US and Reykjavik alone. For example, it takes only one truck on the mountain to leave marks on the ice, leading tourists to conclude that the path taken is the official route.

In the process, the value of the tourist sites is reduced. According to the reports from Viðskiptablaðið, the Brexit is a terrible imminent threat to the tourism of Iceland. The cheap airlines which have all along benefited from the high number of tourists from Britain will be affected. Brits form 20% of the total number of Iceland tourists. 3million, a majority being a tourist. Cheap air transport is a requisite for any country to succeed in its tourism industry. WOW Air has $149 flights from the US to Iceland, the cheapest rate in the history of Iceland flights. There are talks conducted by the Icelandair to acquire WOW Air and whichever the outcome, the tourism industry will still be affected either positively or negatively by the cost of the air travels.