To torture your customers with exorbitant prices is very Icelandic.
A cup of coffee in Reykjavik is getting close to the price of a beer a few years ago. The price of beer is getting close to the price of mojitos a few years ago. A mojito almost requires a second mortgage.
It is worse in the rural areas. We camped in the Western peninsula a few weeks ago. The weather turned ugly and we checked out how much a stay at the local guesthouse would cost us. Twenty-two thousand kronas or almost $200 for a tiny guesthouse a night. I have stayed at four star hotels for less.
It is also very Icelandic to shrug these things away. We stuck with camping…for 4.000 kronas for the night, a butt-numbing amount for pitching your tent anywhere in the world. But when asked to explain these mad prices at Iceland’s tourist destinations an economist for the ASI explained that foreigners’ purchasing power has gone up considerably so they were not so price sensitive to these hikes.
Meanwhile those of us who are unlucky enough to be stuck with the ISK are encouraged to stay at home.
4.500 ISK for bathing with Chinese businessmen swimming in their underwear in the Blue Lagoon anyone?
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Peter Reeves
1 year ago
you can get a 2 for 1 valid until year end in any tourist brochure.
no underwear in October and half price.
now what can we do about the coffee …
Dadi
1 year ago
Thanks Peter, find an abandoned marijuana factory and grow coffee beans?
snowball
1 year ago
icelanders or icelandic speaking folks can enter the blue lagoon usually for half price. worked several times for me this year. its not really fair towards the clueless ferðamen, though it gives iceland a smidgen of arabic flavour…to bargain over the entrance fee
Silvia Planchett
1 year ago
Too bad you can´t make a citizen’s arrest for this thievery!
Lino
1 year ago
“an economist for the ASI explained that foreigners’ purchasing power has gone up considerably so they were not so price sensitive to these hikes”
what a curious way of defining ISK depreciation, greed and “fleece the (foreign) tourist”.
That of course add to the already unfair official exchange rate design to fleece the tourists (by the state)… you will not see the color of my money anytime soon
As Marie Antoinette would have said “just earn EURO/$/yen (anything but ISK)”: when are you assaulting the Icelandic Bastille?
Time to cut some heads and chant “ah ça ira ça ira ça ira” and “allons enfants de la patrie”…
Pétur
1 year ago
Given that retail and services are in the hands of an oligopoly (no sense of competition), that Iceland is remote from the rest of the world (almost everything is imported) and that it has a small population (no place for criticism or alternatives), all the components are in place for a few to benefit from their dominant position.
I always find amazing to pay such ridiculous prices for such mediocre products in Icelandic stores : no choice, almost no traceability, and overall no consistency in pricing from a sales point to another (even within the same chain). It’s the case for food, and it’s the exact same for clothes, same for everything… Not to mention the complete absence of service culture.
For foreigners – tourists or visitors – the feeling of being tricked in Iceland is constant because, let’s face it, they are shamelessly treated as cowmilks, and also because these people are aware of other and better options at home particularly in terms of service. Paying 600 ISK for bad quality coffee served by an impolite teenager is a shame (just an example).
As for Icelanders, I think we got used of being tricked in this oligopolic system. Before the collapse, everything was alright because our currency was strong and we could afford to pay ridiculous prices for everything. But now… who can?
john
1 year ago
Ireland is not far behind!