Municipalities prepare for hundreds of thousands arriving for eclipse

Municipalities in western Iceland have spent a year preparing for the expected arrival of hundreds of thousands of travellers seeking to see Wednesday’s total solar eclipse, mbl.is reports.

Vigdís Másdóttir, marketing and communications manager for the Kópavogur municipality, has taken part in a working group organised by the capital area’s marketing office. She discussed preparations for the eclipse in the Dagmál programme.

“The latest figures I heard were that around 75,000 tourists are arriving by air, while about 53,000 people will come on cruise ships. That is, of course, a huge number,” Vigdís said.

Booking patterns suggest that most of the visitors are travelling to Iceland specifically to experience the eclipse amid the country’s dramatic natural scenery, even if clouds obscure it.

The number of Icelanders travelling west has not been included in those estimates.

“The major uncertainty is that we are not only talking about foreign tourists, but Icelanders as well. Many people from outside the capital area will presumably want to come to the southwest to experience this,” Vigdís said.