· Northern Lights
· A special race of horses, Icelandic horses, which look like pony
· Spa resources like silica mud, clean air, hot springs.
· Marimo, unique lake balls which can only be found in Lake Myvatn and in Japan where they are sacred
As we see one can develop several tourist products based on these resources. The company’s strategy is formulated in this slogan “From hotel to activities”. They decided to become the best company offering activity tourism in Iceland. Since the year 1998 they have worked with different activities on Myvatn. In 2000 the hotel was open. The main focus has been on the Arctic Garden. This is a project run jointly by Sel-Hotel Myvatn and Sport-Tours. The resources that the project is based on are the nature of the lake Myvatn as well as the lake itself in wintertime. The aim is to develop some products that are based on those elements in order to attract tourists to the area during the low-season. The Arctic Garden is a collective term which includes the various kinds of winter recreation that Sel-Hotel Myvatn offers and that are primarily based on ice and snow (www.myvatn.is). The main theme for the Arctic Garden is to work with Lake Myvatn when frozen and therefore bowling, cricket, golf and go-cart have been developed as ice-sports. The location for these activities is a creek at Stakholstjorn which is related to Lake Myvatn. This winter, 2003, a restaurant seating 60 guests, will be built, using snow as building material. The restaurant will be built in cooperation with Absolut and is therefore called the Absolute Ice Restaurant. At first it will be a cocktail restaurant and a bar, but in the future it is going to be a restaurant which offers a number of specially designed meals.[1]
Myvatnssveit, the neighbourhood of Lake Myvatn, offers some of the most spectacular scenery in Iceland which is highlighted even further by its snowy winter appearance.
It is possible to rent ice-skates, skis and snowmobiles at the hotel, where the headquarters of the Arctic Garden are. Diverse excursions are available either with jeeps or busses. All the security equipment is available at the hotel. The main emphasis of all these activities is recreation on the ice. Every winter weekend there is some arrangement on Myvatn. The main idea is to make people love winter.
3.3 Situation today
During the last 5 years the company has developed a number of tourist products both for the summer and winter seasons. (see attachment) The number of arrivals has increased significantly. The mission to attract tourists was fulfilled. The destination Myvatn is becoming popular. 85% of the hotel guests are foreign tourists, which is due to summer guests. In low season it is mostly Icelandic tourists, although there are coming more and more guests from France and the UK. The average length of staying is 2 nights in summer season and 2.5 nights in winter season. The company has been cooperating with Icelandic travel agencies from the very beginning. They take also part in travel fairs abroad. Scandic Tours, the second big tour operator in France, is selling Myvatn tourist products in France ||(from the interview with the hotel manager).
I presume that destination Myvatn is coming through the involvement stage, according to the Butler’s model. The following signs of this stage are obvious in the area:
- The rate of growth in visitation is relatively low for the region. The destination is still not widely-known in the world
- The attractions are mainly natural, authentic.
- The local actors are controlling the situation
- The tourism is a supplementary industry in the region. The most important industry for the region’s economy is still the silica fabric, producing silica algae.
I have also noticed some signs of the development stage, which means that the next stage is not far off. Although the main emphasis is the natural attractions of the lake Myvatn, the activity attractions are commercial. Myvatn is just used as arena for different sport activities and games. The environmental stress is still low; the tourism actors do not have any environmental policy. But the concern for the environment is increasing. The introduced activities can damage the nature on Myvatn, e.g. jeep driving, snow mobiles, go kart. In a short period of time the tourism actors on Myvatn will have to take into account the carrying capacity of the region.
To show the situation today I have made the SWOT analysis.
The strength of the destination:
The weakness of the destination:
The opportunities:
The threats:
This is the situation for today. How the region will develop in the future is an open question.
4. Conclusion.
I have shown the development of the destination Myvatn over the time. The destination has come through definite changes, from a place known only to specialists to a popular tourist destination, especially in winter season. Still, tourism in the region has some problems. The competition is growing and the transportation to Myvatn is complicated. I think that the next step is to define market segments and offer them different product ranges. It will be another strategy according to the Ansoff’s model: market penetration. It is also possible to promote the product to new markets (market development), like business people or schoolchildren. Development of new products is an alternative as well. I suppose such activities as ice-hockey or curling in the open air would be popular. But how the destination will be developing depends on the tourism actors.
[1] The restaurant was almost ready built last winter but all the snow melted off in the region due to the mild weather in February-March.