[CptFribble]

After the volcano erupted in 2010, the government launched a PR campaign in winter 2011 to counter the projected tourism drop. It specifically targeted "inspired" and "enlightened" travelers to come see the "unique" landscape.

Also in 2011, WOWair debuted with it's $99 flights to Iceland.

Instagram launched in 2010.

Maybe it's less "people are garbage" and more "we should make it more expensive to come here."

[gwbas1c]

It seems that social media is the scapegoat of the day for whatever social problem the media discusses.

[lotsofpulp]

It's very relevant for a discussion related to the impacts of travel and tourism.

A person's pictures showing how and where they travel is a very good indicator of their socioeconomic status since it's hard to fake, and so is a valuable part of signaling status, which many people may find useful for dating and otherwise going about their social lives.

[darkpuma]

When somebody calls you an asshole, there are two general reasons why that might be. Maybe there is something wrong with the person calling you an asshole; maybe they're having a bad day or have some sort of irrational grudge against you. The alternative reason is maybe you are an asshole.

When you're called an asshole once, it's easy to assume the other person is having a bad day. But if numerous people are calling you an asshole every day of the week, chances are you are an asshole.

[geggam]

Fair point. Society however is rewarding asshole behavior via social media

[darkpuma]

Quite right, and I think this is one of the reasons so many people are critical of social media.

[mijamo]

Iceland is pretty damn expensive, probably one of the most expensive nature destination you can find, together with Norway (although Switzerland probably still wins the prize).

[knd775]

I went there in the winter (when things are generally a bit cheaper) a couple of years ago and it wasn't too bad. Food, however, was incredibly expensive everywhere. No where else have I spent nearly $20 USD for a meal at a fast food restaurant.

[onion2k]

If you'd eaten the local cuisine it would have been cheaper. Importing goods to an island is expensive.

[ajmurmann]

Even a bowl of Icelandic lamb soup can go up to $20 now. Wasn't like this a few years ago though.

[xeromal]

Yeah, I had a cup of lamb soup for $17 2 years ago. It was no where special. I was so surprised.

[knd775]

I went to a number of local places and they were all about the same as this. I even went to a fish and chips place in Reykjavik expecting it to be cheaper since they certainly don't need to import fish, but it wasn't. Another tiny family-owned restaurant in Vik was the same as well. I honestly couldn't find cheaper food.

I do understand the difficulty in importing food to an isolated island with only 100k people. I'm just not sure that fully accounts for the increasingly high food prices across the board.

[cdelsolar]

yeah, I've seen a lot of people saying food in Iceland is super expensive, but when I was there it was about as expensive as any American city. I think many tourists must still be going to like Subway. I was going to the local restaurants and even found an amazing noodle soup place for under $10 equivalent.

[devonkim]

Every other person I know that goes to Iceland subsists off of hot dogs. For dining out at restaurants in Reykjavik, the cost has been comparable to tipping well at middle to mid-upper US metro establishments that aren’t chain restaurants ($20-$25 / entree as of 2014 when I went).

[ajmurmann]

Food there has gotten really expensive the last few years. Getting there can be really cheap though. I've now spent two Thanksgivings there where we paid less than $1k/person for flights from US west coast and a very good hotel for 3 nights.

[phonon]

It was more related to this--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932011_Icelandic_fi...

They badly needed foreign currency.