During the latter two decades, protected areas have gradually become more closely connected to their economic and social environments, with an emphasisto integrate national parksto wider regional and local development processes (see e.g. Puhakka and Saarinen (2013). In peripheries, closer connections between the tourism industry and national parks are used as tools. While the original biocentric conservation policy used to be characterized by top-down governance, stakeholders of the local communities and the tourism industry are today increasingly involved in adaptive management strategies. During the last three decades, international tourist arrivals to Iceland have generally increased, including by 25% over the past six years. The number of international visitors to Iceland was approximately 2.3 million in 2017, which is almost seven times more than the entire Icelandic population. Tourism is now one of the main pillars of the economy and represents the country's largest export sector.