Travel companies in the West Fjords have accused cruise ships of inflating prices of land excursions.
Archive photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
A day trip to the island of Vigur, for example, costs ISK 8,100 (USD 64, EUR 50) at West Tours travel agency but according to bb.is, the trips are sold for over ISK 30,000—four times the price—on board the cruise ships.
Managing director of West Tours in Ísafjörður, Nancy Bechtloff, told bb.is that the price increase varies between ships but stressed that it was out of the hands of the company.
“The middle men in Reykjavík take care of the contracts with cruise ships and they get a discount on our trips. They sell them at a higher price to the cruise ships, who then jack up the prices when they sell them to their passengers,” she maintained, adding that her company doesn’t see any of the additional costs. “We don’t control the pricing for passengers.”
Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir at Sjóferdir Hafsteins og Kiddýjar travel agency in Ísafjörður has a similar story.
In related news, a record number of tourists arrived in Iceland yesterday. A total of 9,450 people, including 6,600 tourists, arrived on five cruise ships.
Related:
July 09 | Record Number of Tourists Arrive in Iceland
ZR
