East Iceland heatwave sees influx of tourists, filling up campsites and sparking local response

The heatwave in East Iceland shows no signs of letting up and campsites are barely able to accommodate the influx of tourists heading east. In Fjarðabyggð, local accommodations have allowed people to set up camp and a tourism operator in Mjóeyri claims to be opening shops for those seeking respite from the rain.

Campsites in East Iceland are filled with people heading east for the good weather, and accommodations outside of urban areas have responded by allowing people to camp on their grounds. Sævar Guðjónsson, a tourism operator in Mjóeyri by Eskifjörð, claims to have opened what he jokingly refers to as ‘refugee shops’ for Icelanders wanting to escape to the good weather in East Iceland.

“People from the south are fleeing the rain,” says Guðjónsson. “It’s just scorching heat and the thermometer here on Mjóeyri showed 23 earlier. It is now out in the middle of the fjord. I just came home from a four-day hiking trip completely roasted. It’s summer now. I think all campsites in East Iceland are filling up. We have often allowed people to camp on the spit. We often jokingly said we were opening refugee shops. When people from the south are fleeing the rain and coming here to East Iceland for the good weather. There’s a lot of culture going on, all kinds of events but then people are just enjoying. Sit and enjoy the weather and the view, that’s the main thing, I think. But there are great restaurants here and lots of events going on. A lot of culture. But the weather is supposed to be this warm and good well into next week,” says Sævar Guðjónsson in Mjóeyri.