Visitors at Þingvellir National Park currently have to pay 200 ISK (1.48 USD/1.36 EUR) for using the toilets. However, the fees will be eliminated later this summer or fall when the park has installed parking meters at its most popular parking lots.
Visitors should not stand in line at the toilet
Sigrún Magnúsdóttir, the chairman of the National Park Council, tells local news service visir.is that there are several reasons for the decision. Perhaps most importantly, the collection of the fee caused unnecessary and bothersome delays in tourists schedules. The equipment which was installed at the toilets to collect the fees frequently broke down, and long lines formed at the toilets. People were standing in line at the toilet, and never got to see the National Park.
A further reason was that people were avoiding the toilets, doing their business behind the toilets or in the lava fields and bushes. Whether the reason was the fee or the long lines, Sigrún believes that abolishing the fees will encourage people to use their toilets when relieving themselves.
Pooping travellers were a major problem
Yesterday the local newspaper Fréttablaðið ran a story claiming fences and toilet paper, left by visitors who for some reason did not use the park‘s toilets, was becoming a major nuisance in the park. The graves of two of Iceland‘s national poets, Einar Benediktsson and Jónas Hallgrímsson, had been repeatedly desecrating by pooping travellers, as Fréttablaðið put it.
Read more: Hikers leave a trail of toilet paper
The news caused a major ourage in Iceland, both in social media and around coffee machines at offices. Some speculated the cause of the problems was that visitors were stingy and were saving themselves the 200 ISK. Others argued there were too few toilets in the National Park.
Lack of public restrooms not a problem
There are a total of 56 public bathrooms in the National Park, and there is no spot within the Park where travellers are more than 1,300 meters (0,8 miles) from the next toilet.
Sigrún Magnúsdóttir points out there is no excuse not to use a toilet at the park, and is baffled that visitors to the park would not behave in a civilized manner. However, she speculates that travellers and tour guides might not be familiar with the location of the toilets. The National Park will therefore also be adding signs to guide visitors to the, now free, toilets.
Visitors at Þingvellir National Park currently have to pay 200 ISK (1.48 USD/1.36 EUR) for using the toilets. However, the fees will be eliminated later this summer or fall when the park has installed parking meters at its most popular parking lots.
Visitors should not stand in line at the toilet
Sigrún Magnúsdóttir, the chairman of the National Park Council, tells local news service visir.is that there are several reasons for the decision. Perhaps most importantly, the collection of the fee caused unnecessary and bothersome delays in tourists schedules. The equipment which was installed at the toilets to collect the fees frequently broke down, and long lines formed at the toilets. People were standing in line at the toilet, and never got to see the National Park.
A further reason was that people were avoiding the toilets, doing their business behind the toilets or in the lava fields and bushes. Whether the reason was the fee or the long lines, Sigrún believes that abolishing the fees will encourage people to use their toilets when relieving themselves.
Pooping travellers were a major problem
Yesterday the local newspaper Fréttablaðið ran a story claiming fences and toilet paper, left by visitors who for some reason did not use the park‘s toilets, was becoming a major nuisance in the park. The graves of two of Iceland‘s national poets, Einar Benediktsson and Jónas Hallgrímsson, had been repeatedly desecrating by pooping travellers, as Fréttablaðið put it.
Read more: Hikers leave a trail of toilet paper
The news caused a major ourage in Iceland, both in social media and around coffee machines at offices. Some speculated the cause of the problems was that visitors were stingy and were saving themselves the 200 ISK. Others argued there were too few toilets in the National Park.
Lack of public restrooms not a problem
There are a total of 56 public bathrooms in the National Park, and there is no spot within the Park where travellers are more than 1,300 meters (0,8 miles) from the next toilet.
Sigrún Magnúsdóttir points out there is no excuse not to use a toilet at the park, and is baffled that visitors to the park would not behave in a civilized manner. However, she speculates that travellers and tour guides might not be familiar with the location of the toilets. The National Park will therefore also be adding signs to guide visitors to the, now free, toilets.
