Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon, a popular tourist site in South Iceland, has been closed to visitors. A notice on the Environmental Agency of Iceland’s website states the area has been damaged greatly by pedestrian traffic, combined with thawing weather conditions. The closure took effect this morning and will stand for a period of two weeks, at which time the Environment Agency will re-evaluate the condition of the area.
This is the second time this year the canyon is closed to visitors due to environmental damage caused by increased visitors. Fjaðrárgljúfur was also closed last spring for the same reason.
The number of tourists visiting the canyon nearly doubled from 2016 to 2017, in part due to Justin Bieber’s music video for I’ll Show You, filmed at the location. The video, released in late 2015, has over 400 million views on YouTube.
“Please help us to protect the nature and respect closing in nature conservation areas,” the Environment Agency’s notice states.
