Tourists flock to crisis-stricken Iceland
With Iceland's economic meltdown sending its currency into freefall, tourists who saw this remote North Atlantic island as prohibitively expensive are now flocking to its dramatic volcanic scenery.
"Last year you got 60 kronur for one dollar, today you get 105 kronur," said Will Delaney, a 22-year-old student from Canada who, like thousands of others, has taken advantage of the current exchange rate to see Iceland.
More than 10,500 Canadians visited the country last year, a rise of 68 percent from 2007, contributing to an overall total of 502,000 tourists in the nation of just 320,000, according to Iceland's tourism board.
"The collapse of the banks had an effect on the currency, which fell quite a lot," said tourism board director Oloef Yrr Atladottir.
In fact, the value of the Icelandic currency plunged 44 percent in 2008.
The drop "was not negative for the tourism industry because before the crisis Iceland had become a very expensive destination. It has become a more affordable destination now," Atladottir said.
Delaney holds that it is now feasible to visit Iceland for just a couple hundred dollars, something unimaginable a year ago, before the crisis hit.
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