REYKJAVIK, ICELAND — Iceland is now a non-stop international destination available to travelers out of Nashville. My team and I were lucky enough to take the first direct flight from BNA to Iceland... and found one striking similarity between our city — and the Nordic country — the reliance on tourism.
The country of nearly 400,000 people is about the size of Kentucky... and people are flocking to the Land of Fire and Ice.
But it hasn't always been that way.
Iceland's geographical isolation and at times harsh climate have kept people away.
Then the 2008 recession saw the collapse of the country's three banks.
Magnus Freyr, our tour guide in Iceland, told us, "The currency - the Icelandic Krona - fell and was worthless, and a lot of us lost everything we had. And a lot of us were in a really bad spot - but in 2010, we had an eruption from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano."
Even though the eruption grounded thousands of flights and shut down travel in Europe for weeks, it put Iceland on the map. Everyone was suddenly talking about the small island nation.
Since then, tourism has taken off. Last year, the country welcomed nearly 2.4 million visitors.
Magnus - our tour guide - says they can't afford to be ungrateful for tourists.
In fact.. I found the Icelandic people are so welcoming and proud to share their country and their culture.
