“Water-based tourism was prominent at this year’s event and included, for example, whale watching, sea angling, and sailing,” said Steinn Lárusson, the organizer of Icelandair’s 18th Mid-Atlantic Workshop and Travel Seminar, held from February 4-7 in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Interesting new local offers presented this year were sightseeing Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon from the air, swimming in the cold north Atlantic Ocean, private tours with a Viking guide in full regalia, and guided bicycle tours around Reykjavik. “We were thrilled to meet buyers from three continents right on our doorstep,” said Ursula Spitzbart the owner of Iceland Bike – a new business that offers guided bicycle tours in Reykjavik.
“Tourism is like a wall of brick, and each stone has a purpose,” said Larusson, who has organized Mid-Atlantic from its inception eighteen years ago. “Each year someone introduces a new tourism product, such as the Reykjavik bike tour, and existing businesses evolve and adjust their product offering.”
Five hundred representatives from 14 countries attended Mid-Atlantic last week, which is a record. “This year we had 140 sellers of which half came from Iceland, and 230 buyers of which 150 came from the United States and Canada,” said Larusson.
Icelandair hosted the Mid-Atlantic workshop and travel fair with the purpose of bringing together buyers and sellers in the tourism industry in order to support and maintain a steady flow of tourists to Iceland. It is a key event for the tourism sector in Iceland. Next year’s event takes place in Reykjavik from February 3-6.
