Развитие мест посещений (дестинации) на примере озера Myvatn

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Myvatn has about 470 inhabitants, of which approximately 200 live in the village Reykjahliр. Before people used to live on the proceeds of the land farming and fishing for trout in the lake but it has changed radically in the last few decades. A diatomite factory was established in the late sixties and soon became the biggest source of employment in Myvatnssveit.
The geothermal power plant at Krafla also provides for quite a few positions for the locals and tourism is a steadily growing business.

3.2 Development of the destination

In 1974 the lake was declared a national conservation area, and since then Icelandic tourists has begun to go there. The period of the exploration started then. The lake is very unique and there are lots of tourism resources. Still, at the beginning the region was not known. The few visitors, drawn to Myvatn by its natural attractions, were mostly geologists, biologists and other scientists. A number of Icelanders also came to the region to enjoy the nature. But the area was not adjusted for tourism. Accommodation could be only found in the nearest towns. Tourists had to arrange the trips on their own (from the interview with Sel Myvatn
Hotel manager).

In the 1990’s the involvement stage began. I could not find any information about the outer trigger factors, like presentation of the area in media in that period. But I hold to the opinion, that the inner trigger factors were determinant. The local people saw the possibilities of tourism and started to build hotels, restaurants, camping sites. There were open car rentals, grocery shops, petrol stations with car washes, swimming pools. Simple sightseeing possibilities appeared. These are the first signs of the involvement stage in the destination development, according to the
Butler’s model.

Although there are several companies offering accommodation, catering and sightseeing tours around Myvatn, I am going to base my study on the Sel-
Myvatn Hotel. This company is the most responsible for the development of tourism in the region. I could say this company is the most successful one in the region. Their activities allow getting to know the whole area of
Myvatn. So I believe the activity of this hotel and the statistics of their tourist arrivals reflect the development of the destination on the whole.

In 1997 the future management of the Sel-Myvatn Hotel in co-operation with Sport-Tours (Sportuр) in Akureyri, Northern Iceland, started to build the hotel and work with the activities to attract tourists to Myvatn region
(from the interview with the hotel manager). From marketing we know the following four strategies:

Ansoff’s model
| | | |
| | | |
| |Existing markets |New markets |
|Existing | | |
|products |Penetration |Market development |
|New products |Product | |
| |development |Diversification |

Figure 3. Source: Kotler 2003:88

It is natural to start with product development if a completely new product is to appear. The work of Myvatn hotel staff is a part of the destination development because the activities they have introduced attracted tourists to Myvatn. Their mission was to attract tourists to
Myvatn.

Having analysed the situation the company saw the following resources:

. Unique nature in the Myvatn area

. Snow and ice in winter season

. Northern Lights

. A special race of horses, Icelandic horses, which look like pony

. Spa resources like silica mud, clean air, hot springs.

. Marimo, unique lake balls which can only be found in Lake Myvatn and in Japan where they are sacred

As we see one can develop several tourist products based on these resources. The company’s strategy is formulated in this slogan “From hotel to activities”. They decided to become the best company offering activity tourism in Iceland. Since the year 1998 they have worked with different activities on Myvatn. In 2000 the hotel was open. The main focus has been on the Arctic Garden. This is a project run jointly by Sel-Hotel Myvatn and
Sport-Tours. The resources that the project is based on are the nature of the lake Myvatn as well as the lake itself in wintertime. The aim is to develop some products that are based on those elements in order to attract tourists to the area during the low-season. The Arctic Garden is a collective term which includes the various kinds of winter recreation that
Sel-Hotel Myvatn offers and that are primarily based on ice and snow
(www.myvatn.is). The main theme for the Arctic Garden is to work with Lake
Myvatn when frozen and therefore bowling, cricket, golf and go-cart have been developed as ice-sports. The location for these activities is a creek at Stakholstjorn which is related to Lake Myvatn. This winter, 2003, a restaurant seating 60 guests, will be built, using snow as building material. The restaurant will be built in cooperation with Absolut and is therefore called the Absolute Ice Restaurant. At first it will be a cocktail restaurant and a bar, but in the future it is going to be a restaurant which offers a number of specially designed meals.[1]

Myvatnssveit, the neighbourhood of Lake Myvatn, offers some of the most spectacular scenery in Iceland which is highlighted even further by its snowy winter appearance.

It is possible to rent ice-skates, skis and snowmobiles at the hotel, where the headquarters of the Arctic Garden are. Diverse excursions are available either with jeeps or busses. All the security equipment is available at the hotel. The main emphasis of all these activities is recreation on the ice. Every winter weekend there is some arrangement on
Myvatn. The main idea is to make people love winter.

3.3 Situation today

During the last 5 years the company has developed a number of tourist products both for the summer and winter seasons. (see attachment) The number of arrivals has increased significantly. The mission to attract tourists was fulfilled. The destination Myvatn is becoming popular. 85% of the hotel guests are foreign tourists, which is due to summer guests. In low season it is mostly Icelandic tourists, although there are coming more and more guests from France and the UK. The average length of staying is 2 nights in summer season and 2.5 nights in winter season. The company has been cooperating with Icelandic travel agencies from the very beginning.
They take also part in travel fairs abroad. Scandic Tours, the second big tour operator in France, is selling Myvatn tourist products in France
||(from the interview with the hotel manager).

I presume that destination Myvatn is coming through the involvement stage, according to the Butler’s model. The following signs of this stage are obvious in the area:

. The rate of growth in visitation is relatively low for the region.

The destination is still not widely-known in the world

. The attractions are mainly natural, authentic.