North of Iceland, Dalvík – a small fishing village with 1500 inhabitants hidden in the longest fjord of Iceland, Eyjafjordur.

It is a peak of the summer season, middle of July with long days, and the sun hardly setting down….and one wonders, how come that there are only very few tourists, who make it all the way to this beautiful fjord, despite the fact that Iceland has enough tourists in the summer, as such.

Here are some thoughts about tourism in Iceland and projects I‘ve been initiating in this small fishing village of Dalvík, in order to support mindful travel in the area.

Tourism in Iceland is a very young industry and many tourism providers are at the stage of realizing, how important the cooperation with others in tourism is. Our area of interest – Eyjafjordur, in the north of Iceland, has a great potential to become an ideal tourist destination for those who are ready to explore local culture, want to spend money locally and travel in the manner that is sensitive to environment.

Now, how do those, who are interested in the above, find their way to Eyjafjordur?

And how do we, in Eyjafjordur, want to secure that tourism will be developing in a sustainable way and not ending up in mass tourism?

Well, common promotion, as well as strategic planning of the whole fjord has been a huge challenge, as there are 7 different municipalities present in the fjord and tourism hasn‘t been in the same focus for all of them. On top of this, some municipalities haven‘t defined yet the main attractions that they would like tourists to get to know and experience.

In order to contribute to the this process, through my GO LOCAL in Iceland initiative I‘ve been interviewing local providers all over the fjord – my main focus area – enabling them to discuss their future visions, as well as reflecting on the past successes and checking what are the concrete ways that our company can help with.

Since there is a serious lack of a unifying body that would help these 7 municipalities talk together and plan, I‘ve been wiriting a blog

www.icelandtraveltips.com

that is simply describing a current offer in tourism, regardless of municipal borders. It´s just a ground preparation really, for developing more complex packages for mindful travellers that we‘ll be soon coming up with.

We would like to offer this fjord to those, who are ready to sacrificy ’roundtrip around iceland in a week’, and instead spend at least 4 days enjoying our fjord and nature and culture it has to offer with the close interaction with the locals. It has been a reality to some extent, but has to be supported and worked on, much more.

Those interested in checking the place out, do get in touch, we‘ll gladly be of assistance.

Very soon, there‘s a GREAT FISH FESTIVAL coming up. During the weekend of 6th – 8th August, this small fishing village of Dalvík is offering its visitors unique event of its kind letting tourists taste local fish soups during one evening and visit the homes of locals. On top of this, the day after that all kinds of dishes made of local fish are being served at the harbour for free, there‘s lots of good music and many cultural events going on.

Definitely, something very special to experience. If it fits your Icelandic planning, do stop by in Dalvík then.

PS: Last but not least, bear in mind, that many rural destinations in Iceland, that don´t get as much attention by mainstream tourists as the usual highlights, are dream destinations for mindful travellers. It‘s important that you find your way to them and we‘ll do our best to help on this way.