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The main subject at the Icelandic Travel Industry Association’s general meeting in Akureyri on Thursday was winter tourism. Minister of Industry and Tourism Katrín Júlíusdóttir announced an extensive initiative which will be launched shortly with the aim of attracting more travelers to Iceland over the winter months.
From the Akureyri ski resort. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
“A task force is currently working on the matter and will present the extent of the initiative in the coming weeks. It hasn’t been decided how much money will be contributed but it will be a handsome sum,” the minister promised, according to Morgunbladid.
Júlíusdóttir explained that every króna contributed to such marketing initiatives from the state treasury will show a return as new jobs will be created.
Currently, there are hotels and other means of accommodation across the country that are usually full during the height of the tourist season in June, July and August but now they must be taken better advantage of by extending the season.
“Following the ash fall from the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull the number of foreign tourists decreased with the accompanying consequences. To react to it the marketing initiative Inspired by Iceland was launched which was very successful,” the minister recollected.
“This new marketing initiative will be similar and hopefully it will be just as successful because there are many opportunities involved in winter tourism,” she concluded.
Click here to read more about Inspired by Iceland.
A petition urging the government to reconsider a proposed bill, in which the terms of the law requiring fishing companies to pay a tariff for their use of Iceland’s fishing resources are to be changed, has been signed by more than 11,000 people.
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Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson is meeting with Prime Minister of Sweden Frederik Reinfeldt today, 
A three-meter long walrus was discovered on the shores by Eyri in the town of Reyðarfjörður in East Iceland yesterday.
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In 1915, women aged 40 and over were granted the right to cast a vote in all official elections held in Iceland.
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The 2013 June-July issue of Iceland Review is out. Themed ‘We Are Young’ the magazine celebrates the arrival of summer by interviewing young energetic Icelanders who excel in art, sports, business and politics—and Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the youngest PM in the republic’s history and the world’s youngest ruling state leader. Click here to take a look at a selection of the current issue and here to subscribe to the magazine.
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The road to Höfn, a 1,690-person harbor town by the fjord Hornafjörður, is lined with reindeer. Whole herds of the wild horned animals rest peacefully on withered pastures, grace next to sheep and horses and bounce along the road. Soon, Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest glacier and the region’s biggest attraction, comes into view. Looming over Höfn, its outlet glaciers flow down from the mountains on which the bright white icecap rests.
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Sin Fang will celebrate the release of his third album with a release concert in Iðnó on June 12. Flowers was released in February by Morr Music and has been well received by music enthusiasts and critics alike. The concert will be supported by Vök, this year’s winners of the Icelandic Music Experiments.
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