Author: Guest Contributor

This op-ed responds to Þórður Snær Júlíusson’s opinion piece, “Let us be saved from those who intend to save the nation from itself,” published on Vísir on the 14th of July, 2026.  Þórður Snær, the Managing Director of Samfylkingin (The Social Democratic Alliance), recently published a scathing critique seemingly aimed at virtually anyone daring to publicly advocate a “No” vote in Iceland’s upcoming EU referendum. Functioning as a spin doctor for the country’s leading political party, Þórður regularly provides sermon-like opinion pieces explaining how the current government is fixing everything and how disastrous the previous one was. His commentary on……

This article was submitted to Iceland Review. If you would like to make your voice heard, read our Submissions Guidelines here.  Four stories in little more than two weeks suggest a curious editorial fixation with portraying Iceland as overpriced, dysfunctional and hostile to visitors. There is a familiar rhythm to tourism coverage in Iceland. A visitor pays too much for something. A traveller encounters a queue. Someone posts a complaint on Facebook. Someone else writes an angry account on Reddit. Within a matter of hours, an everyday irritation has been transformed into a small morality play about Icelandic tourism. Few……

Iceland Review sometimes publishes selected commentary from contributors writing under collective or anonymous bylines. In a recent article in local media comparing so-called “mountain nations,” Iceland has been held up alongside Bhutan as a country that might benefit from a different approach to tourism and development. Those making the comparison point to Bhutan’s location in the Himalayas and its deliberately restrictive tourism model, which emphasises “high value, low volume” travel. Central to their argument is the concept of Gross National Happiness, as well as a daily Sustainable Development Fee of around $100, intended to limit visitor numbers while funding public services……