After his death at Reinisfara Beach last Friday, he died for the fifth time in the last seven years, renewing the debate over whether to completely or partially shut down Reinisfara or try another strategy. ..
“We can’t face this situation any longer,” Tourism Minister Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir told Vísir, which applies not only to Reynisfjara, but to other parts of Iceland.
“One of the things we can do is close [Reynisfjara]But temporarily, “she said. “No one is talking about closing Reynisfjara completely. When the tide is at a point where it can be proven deadly. But of course, we do this in collaboration with landowners and the tourism industry. increase.”
Regarding the tourism industry, Grapevine talked with a tour guide last November about why this is going on, triggered by another death at Reinisfara.
The tour guide in question, David Kelley, tells tourists and most other tour guides to avoid the waterline, but not everyone listens and tries to bring people back from the waterline. Told us that it is not always effective.
“The problem with being a guide is that I don’t have the authority,” he said. “After the last big incident, we were there and shouted to people to escape from the sea. Some people hear us, but then we face us,” Police, what are you? Some people say, “?” They curse us and tell us to blaspheme all this. “
Like many, David doesn’t believe that Reinisfara should be completely closed, but he sees another solution besides the temporary closure of the area.
“In my opinion, all you need is boots on the ground,” he says. “Iceland makes a lot of money from tourism. Personally, in these important places, more people need to interact with the general public, making it a potentially dangerous situation. I think we need a trained expert on how to manage the large number of people who fall into it. People who have the authority to act. I think we need two people at a time. Especially during the day, we need two people a day. is.”
For the time being, increasing human security presence at Reynisfjara has not participated in discussions at the official level, but discussions between states, landowners, and the tourism industry are still underway.
