Coming in from the Cold……the rise of the Icelandic Star.

At long last! access back to our blog - thank you Google.

The sheer wonder of the Aurora Borealis aside, I did not expect to be quite so commercially inspired by a recent trip to Iceland, certainly not enough to be sharing some encouraging economic facts and stats with you .

After about 24 hours in Reykjavik, I found myself casting my mind back to the Icelandic crash of 2008 , remembering the catastrophic effect that it had not only on the Icelandic economy but on many British Savings and investment accounts with Icesave. I actually wished I had paid more attention to the history of the economic collapse of this north atlantic island at the time but I suspect that our own economic woes at the time took precedence.

Amongst my travelling companions was my friend Chris Lee ( ex BBC Journalist and PR consultant) and what we experienced did not feel anything like a bruised and battered economy but the early stages of an impressive and stoic return to trading and growth. She wrote this article for us.

 So what did we find out :

• Economic Growth of 2.5% is predicted in 2013.

• 4 Years post crash – Moodys have changed Icelands’ Baa3 credit rating to stable from negative. They complimented the Icelandic government for handling the financial and economic matters well, the financial situation has improved and the recession is over.

• The EFTA ( European Free Trade Association) Court ruled in Iceland’s favour in a historic verdict on the Icesave case.

• The economic crash has made the notoriously expensive island more affordable.

• Powerful and design led marketing campaigns are assisting - although a 2008 campaign which greeted visitors at the international airport did not go down well – “ Welcome to Halfpriceland” – are you here for the nature or the exchange rate “ – the ad was taken down a few months later after a number of icelanders took issue with the lack of tact rather than false marketing.

• Tourism reached record high of 700,000 visitors in 2012 - almost outnumbering the islands 321,857 inhabitants two fold .

• 1 million visitors are expected by 2016 to this truly beautiful island

• Green Tax Credit offered to islanders who leave their cars at home and find alternative methods of getting to work 

• Range Rover registrations ( a status symbol in Iceland ) – reached a peak of 259 in 2007 , dropped to 4 in 2011 and is slowly rising again to 24 in 2012……….maybe not such a great statistic ?

I'll be back................

Fiona Shafer