Sudipta Dev – Mumbai
India is a new and emerging market for Iceland. The country received a little over 1,000 tourists from India in 2015. Promote Iceland that recently organised its maiden roadshow in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, is looking at attracting the high-end Indian traveller. “We have only recently started to work in the India market.We get over a million visitors a year, the share of India is not good, but we see a lot of interest from this market, a lot of queries at the embassy through us,” said Thorir Ibsen, ambassador of Iceland to India.
At present the main interest of the Indian traveller in Iceland is the Northern Lights. “The Aurora Borealis can be seen from October to February. That seems to attract Indians quite a lot. They are much more interested in winter tourism,” said Ibsen, adding that the other activities are skiing, visit to glaciers and highlands, traditional places like the Golden Circle, going inside a volcano, the Blue Lagoon, etc. “You can in fact do most of the activities that you can do in summer, from a different perspective,” he mentioned adding that the country has fjords like in Norway. There is also heritage tourism showcasing the culture of the Vikings of the eighth and the ninth centuries, both in museums and locations around the country.
Iceland has good accommodation options. Many people who visit during the winter months stay in Reykjavík and do day trips around the country. “There are also good hotels across the country with modern amenities. In terms of cuisine there are two Indian restaurants in Reykjavík. We get chefs from India who work there. We are not a vegetarian country, but apart from the Indian restaurants there are a number of vegetarian outlets in the capital and hotels around the country have started to make the effort,” he stated.
The Icelandic delegation included representation from companies like Gray Line, Iceland Air, Iceland Europe Travel, Tripical, Gudmundur Jonasson Travel, Iceland Travel and Terra Nova Iceland.