Íris Hrund Halldórsdóttir´s role in the The Navigating Tourism Crisis Recovery program
Halldórsdóttir is a researcher at the Icelandic Tourism Research Centre. The research centre is responsible for giving a quality assessment of the materials being produced in the project.
Íris Hrund Halldórsdóttir has a masters degree in tourism studies and is also an adjunct professor of tourism at the University of Iceland.
The three year project is currently creating materials about navigating tourism recovery after a crisis happens. These materials are being written for universities and professors, but the materials are free and can be assessed by everyone when they are complete.
This material is specifically aimed at businesses in the tourism industry so they can identify the tools and skills they need to help their businesses in the recovery process. The project is set to end in the second half of 2023.
Halldórsdóttir’s background and experience with the tourism industry has helped to educate her more on this topic. She has done additional research related to tourism. This research focused on the resilience of tourism businesses during the covid crisis.
Her research focused on businesses in Iceland. She said it became very evident how much certain companies relied on the income generated from tourists. Local residents were still going to these businesses but they were not getting enough revenue to stay open.
After these businesses closed they were able to see how important this industry was to these small communities. Residents were happy to have a break from tourists, but after a while they missed the energy and life that was being brought to their communities.
The most important takeaway from her research was that these towns need to find a balance. These communities need revenue entering their economies, but they need to find the balance that allows them to do this without getting overworked and overwhelmed.
