COOPERATION BETWEEN AKUREYRI UNIVERSITY AND THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

Abstract

Iceland is a popular tourist destination and the number of tourists has increased rapidly in Iceland in recent years, although this increase has now slowed down. During the winter months, tourists mainly visit the south and the southwest part of Iceland, while other regions have fewer tourist during the winter months. Concentration has occurred in the south-western corner of the country, contrary to the goal of better distribution of tourist. One way of distributing tourists is the project Arctic Coast Way.The Arctic Coast Way is an attraction for tourists who want to stay out of the main roads and do so by crossing the coastal north coast. The route is a total of 900 kilometres. In May 2019, the Arctic Coast Way was chosen as the top 10 list of European destinations that are worth a visit by Lonely Planet, one of the world's most popular travel guidebooks. The project was first introduced two years ago. The Arctic Coast Way main objective should be to attract tourists' attention to the coastline along North Iceland. Such roads are known in the global tourism industry, as a tool for directing travellers by certain roads in a particular area. The overall goal of the project is to create increased opportunities for tourism companies by creating brands with which they can connect. With this, they could become more visible both in domestic and foreign markets, as well as a tool for getting tourists to travel abroad and in the peripheral areas of so-called, and to get them to stay longer in the North.The main goal of this presentation is to explain how students at the University of Akureyri took part and contributed to this project. Many good ideas from students were put forward and were used when this route was formally introduced on June 8th 2019.