Iceland Tourism and the Mixed Blessings of Airbnb
Photo Credit: The Loft Hostel in central Reykjavik lists its rooms on Airbnb, as well as on its own website. Loft Hostel
Skift Take
The island nation of Iceland, which is roughly the size of Portugal and located about 1,100 miles northwest of London, is a flashpoint for the encroaching forces of tourism, globalization, and of course, Airbnb, too.
Earlier this week we published Iceland and the Trials of 21st Century Tourism, a close examination of the rapid influx of tourism into the country following the global financial crisis.
In over 10,000 words we dive deep into what's happening on the ground now in the Arctic destination based on interviews conducted this summer with travel and tourism leaders in Reykjavik and other parts of Iceland. In the excerpt, below, we look at how Airbnb has solved some housing challenges while causing different ones at the same time.
If it weren’t such a contentious subject for locals, the rise of Airbnb in Reykjavik could represent a major success story for the sharing economy giant.
The number of hotel rooms in Iceland has increased by 42 percent since 2010, according to data from Statistics Iceland, with 394 hotels and hostels active across the country by the end of 2015.
Downtown Reykjavik is now dotted with cranes looming above the skyline, as dozens of hotels a
