Must be prepared for everything in Iceland

The Icelandic Tourist Board encourages tourists to be aware of …

The Icelandic Tourist Board encourages tourists to be aware of safety issues and make sure they are adequately prepared for trips into the wild in Iceland during winter. Photo/Þorvarður Árnason

The president of the Icelandic Tourist Board believes it is important that people are careful about winter tourism and prepare their trips well, as the weather in Iceland can change in a moment.

The Coast Guard’s helicopter squadron had three emergency calls yesterday in response to accidents in Langjökull and Dalvík. That number of calls in one day is not considered common, but many were on the alert in the good weather yesterday.

“There is always a need to be more careful when traveling in general, whether in winter or summer,” Ólöf Kristín Sívertsen, president of the Icelandic Tourist Board, tells mbl.is.

Ólöf Kristín Sívertsen is the president of the Icelandic Tourist …

Ólöf Kristín Sívertsen is the president of the Icelandic Tourist Board. mbl.is/Sigurður Bogi

People not always adequately equipped

She says that it is primarily the Icelandic winter and local conditions that cause accidents in the winter tourism. However, people need to evaluate the conditions and they need to be well equipped.

“Sometimes it’s the case that people are not sufficiently prepared and not evaluating the situation properly. It’s very important to have the right equipment.”

The Icelandic Tourist Board’s website contains guidelines and safety issues regarding winter tourism.

“We encourage people to look into these situations, and it’s always better to have more equipment than less and assume everything. As we know in Iceland, even though the temperature is relatively warm or sunny somewhere, the weather can change in a flash, so you need to be ready for everything.

You may need to have special equipment in winter. You need to get a lot of familiarity with where you are going, the routes where you are going, and also leave a plan of your planned travel route,” Sívertsen says, referring to the website safetravel.is . You can also download the safetravel app on the safetravel website, sign up for alerts among other things.

Challenge to get information out

Sívertsen points out the importance of referring foreign tourists to information on safety in winter travel in Iceland.

“It is very important that we bring this to their attention and refer them to these websites. It also contains all the information in English. It is very important that we try to convey this in the best possible way to as many people as possible,” she says.

“We try to promote this information, but we can always do better. It can be a challenge to get this information out.”

Sívertsen says she finally hopes that anyone traveling through the country can enjoy it and get home safely.

“We at the Icelandic Tourist Board of Iceland, of course, encourage travel around the country, while at the same time urging people to look into safety issues.”

Weather

Partly cloudy

Today

2 °C

Clear sky

Tomorrow

3 °C

Clear sky

Saturday

2 °C