Tourist routes and infrastructure: Access, use and seasonality

The ITRC has recently received a research grant from the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration Research Fund for the projectTourist routes and infrastructure: Access, use and seasonality.

In recent years, tourist routes based on Iceland’s existing road network have become more important tourism product for the industry. These routes create new opportunities for distributing visitors across different regions, while also presenting new challenges related to accessibility, seasonal conditions, and expectations regarding road systems and related infrastructure.

The project has two main objectives. First, it aims to examine tourists’ travel experiences along designated tourist routes from the users’ perspective. Second, the research seeks to explore how the current state of infrastructure along these routes, including roads, public transport, EV charging stations, and information services, supports or limits the feasibility of the routes as tourism products.

The study focuses on two designated tourist routes in Iceland: The Arctic Coast Way and the Westfjords Way. Both routes are entirely based on roads already in public use and therefore do not involve new infrastructure development, but rather new branding and uses of the existing road network.

The research applies a mixed-methods approach. First, the status of key infrastructure along the tourist routes will be mapped using existing data sources. Second, a survey will be conducted among tourists to examine their journeys along the routes, accessibility, seasonal conditions, and modes of travel.

Further information about the project is available on the Vegagerðin website.

The project is led by Ása Marta Sveinsdóttir and Eyrún Jenný Bjarnadóttir.