Iceland has long been on the map as a pioneering country when it comes to clean energy and other Earth-friendly endeavors, but now the tiny nation’s booming tourism industry is making strides in creating cleaner, greener operations.
Gray Line Iceland, one of the country’s oldest and largest tour operators, has long had a robust environmental policy in place and held gold certification from Vakinn, the official quality and environmental certifying body for Icelandic tourism. But to redouble their efforts, the company now actively encourages its customers to do their part in reducing environmental impact.
Through their popular campaign Iceland Academy, Inspired by Iceland equips visitors with the necessary tools to travel responsibly and invites them to commit to making travel in Iceland greener with the Icelandic Pledge. And after seeing the staggering results of a survey conducted on water consumption by tourists in Iceland, Inspired by Iceland launched the informative video campaign Kranavatn to encourage visitors to forego single-use bottled water and bring their own water bottle to drink Iceland’s legendarily pure tap water.
Another Icelandic tour operator, Icelandic Mountain Guides, is also making admirable strides in reducing their environmental impact. The company has assembled a dedicated Environmental Team to organize their efforts and the fruit of their labor shows. All of Icelandic Mountain Guide tours are now entirely carbon neutral, which is no small feat.
Websites such as safetravel.is and road.is are also great resources to refer to before and during any travel in Iceland.
