Publicity events for the all-new and all-shiny advertising campaign Inspired by Iceland will be held in key tourist markets across Europe this week, marking the start of a new promotion aimed at boosting tourism in the country. Events will be held for journalists and travel fans in Milan, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo. In addition, it is expected that preparations for media events in the USA will shortly be getting underway. The campaign was announced today on the website of the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs (PR in Icelandic).

At the meetings, foreign ambassadors of Iceland for the respective countries — Þórir Ibsen, Gunnar Snorri Gunnarsson, Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson, Sturla Sigurjónsson, Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson and Sigríður Dúna Kristmundsdóttir — will be in attendance. Geologists Ari Trausti Guðmundsson and Rikke Pedersen will also fly the flag for Iceland, alongside Icelandic tourism representatives Davíð Jóhannson and Einar Bollason. They will speak about the eruption under Eyjafjallajökull and play up Iceland as a summer destination for tourists.

There will be a particular emphasis on encouraging foreign journalists to hop over to Iceland and write about the country as a tourist destination, as well as encouraging visits from foreign tour operators to familiarise themselves with the state of affairs in the country.

The campaign follows a particularly negative year for Iceland PR wise, with the bank collapse and more recently the volcanic eruption putting tourists off visiting the country. Since the economic crisis, advertisements by Icelandair have appeared in the UK and USA encouraging tourists to take advantage of the best exchange rate in years.

The tourism campaign was launched on Friday and will run throughout May and July. The campaign is truly multi-faceted and 21st century, with adverts being displayed (video in Icelandic) throughout the Tube network in London, UK newspapers, online (see right), and on social networking sites. Following the eruption and chaos surrounding flights in Europe, many tourists planning to visit Iceland in the summer cancelled or postponed their travel plans. It seems that the Inspired by Iceland campaign is aiming to counter some of the bad PR.

I myself will be flying to Iceland next week, and I am fully behind the campaign. Iceland needs tourists now more than ever, and it is the perfect time to come and see everything the country has to offer. Even the singed ram testicles.

Source: mbl.is
Image: Inspired by Iceland

Labels: Tourism