Sustainable Tourism in Reykjavík

Reykjavík City is committed in making sustainable and responsible tourism attainable. Quality and the environment are decisive factors, which is mirrored in the Tourism Strategy for the City of Reykjavík – A City for All Seasons; through the values of environment, quality, professionalism, cooperation, integrity and purity.

Visit Reykjavík, Reykjavík´s official tourism organization, is an active partner of Festa, the Icelandic Center for Corporate Social Responsibility. In 2017 Visit Reykjavík cooperated with Festa on an incentive project were over 300 companies connected with tourism declared their participation in responsible tourism by agreeing on a limited number of clear and simple measures. The main emphases was to demonstrate exemplary behavior and respect for nature, ensure the safety of our guests and treat them courteously, respect the rights of employees and to have a positive impact on the local community.

As a part of Visit Reykjavík, The Reykjavík Official Tourist Information Centre is an important executive body when it comes to creating a responsible and sustainable tourism in Reykjavík, servicing well over half a million foreign visitors per year, which is one third of all foreign guests coming to Iceland. The Center has been awarded with Vakinn – The official quality and eco label for Icelandic tourism, run by the Icelandic Tourist Board. The aim of Vakinn is to strengthen the quality, safety and environmental awareness within Icelandic tourism by means of guidance and support and to promote social responsibility of tourist service providers in the process. For the Visit Reykjavík, Vakinn is an effective tool to increase quality and safety, providing diverse supplementary materials, guidelines, data and checklists that are useful in improving operating procedures.

Visit Reykjavík works in a very close collaboration with Safetravel, creating an official source for safe adventure in Iceland. Safetravel is a project lead by the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue (ICE-SAR), were companies, public institutions as well as individuals who have a good experience in travelling in Iceland in different conditions join hands with the goal to lower the rate of accidents in travel and tourism in Iceland. Through Safe Travel staff on the Centre's floor, the visitor is secured through a direct contact, with an extensive amount of information which can help him to plan his travel in Reykjavík and Iceland in a very safe and secure way.

Visit Reykjavík supports the ‘The Icelandic Pledge’ campaign of Promote Iceland, a public-private partnership established to improve the competitiveness of Iceland by promoting Iceland as a tourism destination. The Icelandic Pledge is an online agreement, designed to promote responsible tourism. It offers tourists to sign in and take a pledge where the promise to respect nature when traveling the country.

The Reykjavík City Card, is a product offered by Visit Reykjavík offering easy, affordable and green access to the city's museums and galleries, geothermal pools and public transport. The City Card builds on Reykjavík Green Eco Steps which aim to reach environmental standards of Reykjavík city by lowering the environmental impact of the city's institutions and public spaces. The measures include recycling waste, reduced use of electricity and heat, increasing the share of environmentally friendly procurement and the usage of hydrogen public transport.

We wish you a warm welcome to Reykjavík!