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cated males from the upper echelons of society, and they were often involved in
scientifically oriented exploration or research expeditions. Recreational tourists as
such hardly existed.
Beginning in 1858, steamers took over from sailing ships for transporting mail
between Copenhagen and Reykjavík; these stopped en route in the British Isles,
usually in the vicinity of edinburgh. Not only did this lead to an increase in the
number of scheduled ships carrying mail, but mercantile steamer traffic also
increased, particularly after 1870. The added speed and comfort of steamers in
comparison to sailing vessels was taken into account by foreigners contemplating
a trip and undoubtedly led to a rising number of travellers. Therefore, the range
of tourists became broader and their travel patterns changed: the age of recre-
ational tourism had begun.
In all probability, more foreign tourists visited Iceland in 1861 and 1862 than
ever before, apparently 25 to 30 each year. From then on, the number of tourists
gradually increased, until recreational tourists could be estimated by the turn of
the century as several hundred per summer. From 1905 to 1914 they usually num-
bered well over 1000, conceivably peaking at nearly 2000.
The rapid growth around 1900 and later can be largely attributed to the pop-
ularity of group tours in Iceland and to visits by ocean cruisers, particularly the
German vessels which came annually from 1905 to 1914. These vessels arrived
from Germany (or sometimes France) via Scotland, then proceeded from
Reykjavík to the Svalbard Islands and to Norway before returning to Germany.
Popular foreign novels set to varying degrees in Iceland undoubtedly exerted an
added attraction on many travellers during these years. In Reykjavík, the 1905–
1914 period led to considerable cultural tourism that was related to German cruis-
er arrivals, with the tourist industry of southwest Iceland beginning to show traits
of mass tourism in the high season, i.e. summer.
While english-speaking tourists, mainly British, had long been most numer-
ous, the number of German-speaking tourists increased rapidly from the turn of
the century and may well have formed the majority after the German cruisers
began arriving. Regardless of nationality, it seems certain that the majority of trav-
ellers belonged to the upper class, although changing travel patterns towards the
end of the 19th century (with shorter stops as well as faster transportation within
Iceland) imply that middle-class tourists were on the increase.
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