Anti-tourism campaign against Iceland

I was checking around online for a detailed map of the park where I would like to hold Palmer's birthday party, and clicking on a promising link called "Park Trails" I saw something that surprised me. An advertisment their boldly declared "I will not visit Iceland" with a picture of a whale, and text stating that Iceland killed 273 endangered fin whales in the last two years. I clicked on the ad, and read about the concerted effort on the part of this group to specifically target high-traffic websites which ecologically minded tourists in the US and UK use to initiate an anti-Icelandic tourism campaign.

Not exactly the way I wanted to observe sjómannadagur.

Comments

Karen said…
Whale sashimi is yummy. I will visit Iceland. In about ...16 days. :)
June 5, 2011 at 10:51 PM
Lissy said…
I know! But still, I was pretty surprised that some of the whales being hunted are listed as endangered. So now I am conflicted. I would not, however, suggest that crippling the tourism industry is the way to deter whale hunting. Seems to me that Icelanders will hunt more whales if their economy is depressed by the lack of tourist dollars. So go to Iceland, spend lots of money, and ask if the whale is endangered or not before you order it off the menu.
June 6, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Karen said…
My theory is if it's on the menu, it's already dead. Whether it was an endangered species or not. I honour the whale's spirit by eating it.

I don't believe that boycotting something after the fact is an effective means of protest. I don't believe that my few tourist dollars make any difference at all.

If I want to protect endangered species, I'll go to the docks to protest there, or join a lobby group petitioning the government, or join the government to help make legislation.
June 7, 2011 at 7:07 PM
Halla said…
Ef þeir eru á lista yfir tegundir í útrýmingarhættu er það einhver sérlisti búinn til af fólki sem er á móti hvalveiðum. Við strendur Íslands hafi hvalir verið taldir undanfarin 30 ár og þeim hefur fjölgað verulega.
June 8, 2011 at 9:54 PM
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