The Iceland canyon Fjaðrárgljúfur has been closed to tourists until June thanks to an inpouring of travelers who have been visiting the location since 2015 when Justin Bieber featured the remote location in his I’ll Show Youmusic video, which has been viewed more than 440 million times on YouTube.
Fjaðrárgljúfur was a relatively unknown area in Iceland and was mostly overlooked by tourists until a few years ago. Ever since Justin Bieber shot his music video there, people have been flocking to the canyon and as a result the Environment Agency of Iceland has closed Fjaðrárgljúfur to tourists.
“This canyon was somewhat unknown [before the Bieber video],” Daníel Freyr Jónsson from the Environment Agency of Iceland told local Icelandic media. “The great increase in foot traffic began after Bieber came. There has been an increase of 50 percent to 80 percent between 2016, 2017 and 2018.”
Fjaðrárgljúfur South Iceland
In hopes of giving the trails and vegetation time to heal from excessive “trampling” by scores of tourists, Fjaðrárgljúfur will be closed to the public until June 1, according to Lonely Planet.
But Inga Hlin Palsdottir, director of the national tourism agency Visit Iceland, tells CNN Travel that it’s not fair to blame overtourism — or pop stars — for Fjaðrárgljúfur’s closure.
“It’s just a natural wonder that wasn’t meant to be that popular,” she says. “We need to build a better infrastructure there so we can invite people all year round. We need paths that can be discovered all year round. It’s not only because of nature, it’s a safety issue.”
Hannes Sasi Palsson, owner of Reykjavik-based tourism company Pink Iceland, also weighed in on the issue.
“That part of the country simply can’t cope with all those stomping feet,” he tells CNN Travel. “We have to ask ourselves whether we want to build viewing platforms, charge entry or simply close the area down for a few months a year, giving it time to heal. It’s a debate that any country coming to grips with a massive increase in tourism has to grapple with.”
Less than 340,000 people live in Iceland, yet the country welcomed nearly 2.2 million visitors in 2017, according to the Icelandic Tourist Board. That’s about six times as many visitors as residents.