Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.06.2018, Blaðsíða 14

A parliamentarian for the Centre
Party is demanding answers regard-
ing a photo shoot that took place in
Parliament, which featured topless
women. The shoot itself is a part
of a performance piece included
in the Reykjavík Arts Festival .
The piece in question, Demon-
crazy, shows topless women chal-
lenging “the besuited, middle-aged,
male image of power with which they
grew up”, as the artist’s text explains.
Which makes the complaints of
Centre Party MP Sigmundur Davíð
Gunnlaugsson all the more ironic.
Are you disrespecting my
authority?
His objections were voiced in the form
of five formal questions he submitted
to Parliamentary President Steing-
rímur J. Sigfússon. In the questions,
Sigmundur demands to know who
gave permission for the shoot “for
advertisement purposes”, whether this
indicates a change in parliamentary
dress code, and also whether “such
use of the parliamentary building and
parliamentary tradition is supposed
to increase respect for Parliament”.
Fréttablaðið reports that Sigmun-
dur received his answer. Steingrímur
informed Sigmundur that it was a
member of the Independence Party,
Birgir Ármannsson, who granted
permission for the shoot, that it was
not for advertisement purposes, and,
as the women in the photos are not
parliamentarians, regulations about
parliamentary dress code do not apply.
Grateful for the discussion
The artist behind Demoncrazy, Borghi-
ldur Indriðadóttir, takes a decidedly
philosophical approach to Sigmundur’s
outrage, telling Fréttablaðið: “I think
this is actually interesting, and maybe
good to get some reporting on this.
In reality, [Sigmundur’s reaction] is a
continuation of the piece, that it’s being
talked about. I find it interesting that he
describes the group as walking out of the
building in a bit of a respectful manner
… It’s interesting how he interprets this,
how he interprets the exhibition.”
It’s no secret that tourism has, in just
the span of a few years, become one
of Iceland’s largest industries. Every-
one wants a piece of the action, and
Icelanders have been very diligent
and creative as they compete for their
share of the gold rush. However, foreign
companies have also taken notice and
have sought a share of the market.
While not necessarily bad in itself,
Grapevine has learned that many of
these companies operate in legal grey
areas at best; at worst, they put lives
in danger, underbid local companies,
underpay their workers and do not pay
their share of taxes into the system.
Fortunately, there are solutions to
these problems, but a lack of initia-
tive from the government means
that, until the laws are changed or
more clearly defined, the onus will
be on the tourists themselves to only
hire Icelandic-based tour opera-
tors — often easier said than done.
The interlopers
For Kormákur Hermannsson, founder
and co-owner Base Camp Iceland,
this matter is very close to his heart.
"The problem with companies oper-
ating illegally in Iceland is we have no
way of competing with them,” he says.
Here’s how it works: Icelandic compa-
nies have to be licensed tour operators.
This requires insurance, inspected
vehicles that are licensed to transport
people, and paying market salaries to
guides, amongst other things. Compa-
nies based abroad don't have to comply
with any of these rules. Many, if not
most, don't pay taxes such as VAT.
To make matters worse, many
of these companies will bill them-
selves on their websites as using
“local guides”, and make other claims
that are difficult at best to verify.
Ásdís Dögg Ómarsdóttir, the general
manager Asgard Beyond, has also
noticed these companies popping up
with increasing frequency in recent
years. Some of these companies will
even hire some of her company’s
services for their own tours. The
economic aspect matters to her,
but there is also the issue of safety.
Lives at risk
“Sometimes my guides will come back
to the office and be like 'Oh my god
you won't believe what I saw today,'”
she tells us. “They might see, for exam-
ple, one guide leading a stroll of 30
people. But 99.9% of the time, noth-
ing happens, so companies and guides
get away with it. But when shit hits the
fan, that's when you want someone
well educated and experienced to be
there on the spot to figure things out."
In her experience, one thing that
might be obfuscating how much danger
there is with untrained and under-
equipped guides running tours is when
other qualified guides cover for them.
Unqualified guides working for a bad
company may run into trouble, not
have the resources to fix it, "but our
guides happen upon them by accident
and sort it out,” Ásdís says. “Because
you're not going to leave someone in
a crevasse, and not help out. Eventu-
ally there's going to be an accident, or
a few of them, and maybe then some-
thing will be done. But I think the
governments needs to go ahead and
do something about this right away."
Where is the oversight?
For both Kormákur and Ásdís, this is
happening because of both a lack of legal
framework and a lack of enforcement
of what little legal framework there is.
"I think there's a lack of infrastruc-
ture for oversight, but there's also
a fundamental lack of understand-
ing of the function of the tourism
market,” Kormákur says. “I know it's
been growing rapidly, and when you
have rapid growth like this, govern-
ment authorities tend to be very reac-
tive. They only react when something
has happened. So we lack the general
marketing plan for tourism in Iceland."
"In a way, the foreign companies that
are operating here may be operating
legally, but in a grey area,” Ásdís says. “I
think it's super important that anyone
who runs a business that's operating
here delivers the same amount of taxes
into the economy. But the really sad part
is that there are no regulations about
safety in Iceland when it comes to tour-
ism, except maybe for diving. One big
question is, if somebody breaks the law,
what's going to happen? Who's going to
be responsible for punishing anyone? I
think in general that's the big problem."
Until such time as the govern-
ment does clarify the law and step up
enforcement, those wanting to tour
Iceland can take steps to ensure they
have hired a local company. Vakinn,
the official quality and environmen-
tal system for Icelandic Tourism, has
a special page listing all the certi-
fied Icelandic companies who fully
abide the law, which can be found at
vakinn.is/en/certified-companies.
A l l that said, there is st i l l
a lot of work to be done, and
Kormákur worries about the future.
"This is not only about someone
having an unfair upper hand in a
competitive market,” he says. “It's also
about, as a local, what kind of tourism
do you want? Do you want to make it into
a sustainable, responsible market that
can be respected? Or do you want to race
to the bottom of the barrel? Today, we're
very close to the bottom of the barrel."
Icelandic MP Outraged
Over Topless Photo
Shoot In Parliament
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson inadvertently
proves artist’s point
Cashing
In And
Selling Out
How foreign companies
are killing Iceland’s
tourism industry
Words: Paul Fontaine Photo: Art Bicnick
14 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2018
Imagine being outraged by this.
Too legit to quit
Words:
Paul Fontaine

Photo:
Magnús Andersen