REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Iceland has discovered the secret to a booming tourist industry: First have a mammoth financial implosion, then an enormous volcanic explosion.
冰岛雷克雅未克——冰岛发现了令旅游业迅速发展的秘密:先来一场巨型金融大崩溃,再来一次超级火山大爆发。
The collapse of the Icelandic krona after the 2008 financial crisis transformed this Arctic island packed with 35 active volcanoes into a top destination by making it cheap for visitors.
2008年金融危机之后,冰岛克朗出现暴跌,旅游者所需的费用随之下降,这个拥有35座活火山的北极岛国因此成了顶级旅游胜地。
Two years later, Eyjafjallajokull erupted, spewing thick ash clouds into European skies. Millions of passengers were grounded for days and airlines suffered financial losses. But the explosion put Iceland on the map. The foreign news media descended on the island, beaming images around the world of spectacular landscapes, even as journalists struggled to pronounce the volcano’s name.
两年后,埃亚菲拉约库火山(Eyjafjallajokull)爆发了,把浓厚的火山灰云喷向欧洲的天空。几天时间里,数百万旅客不能乘坐飞机,航空公司遭受了经济损失。但这场火山爆发却令人们重新注意到冰岛。外国新闻媒体争相赶来,虽说记者们费了好大力气才能拼出这座火山的名字,却把壮丽景观的图像发往世界各地。
“Iceland has been saved by the crash and the eruption,” said Fridrik Palsson, who owns Hotel Ranga, a luxury resort just 19 miles from the slopes of Eyjafjallajokull, the 16-letter volcano that is often shortened to E-16 by foreigners. “I have never seen anything take off so fast,” he said.
“经济崩溃和火山爆发拯救了冰岛,这样快的发展速度我以前从没见过,”朗高酒店(Hotel Ranga)的主人弗里德里克•帕尔松(Fridrik Palsson)说,这家豪华酒店距离埃亚菲拉约库的山坡只有19英里——有16个字母的火山名通常被外国人简称为E-16。
The combined effect of the catastrophes has been an invasion on a scale possibly unseen since Vikings raided the island hundreds of years ago. Tourists are expected to outnumber the local population of 330,000 by seven to one next year, according to official data. By comparison, last year visitors to France outnumbered the French by two to one
两场灾难的综合效应造成了自几百年前维京人袭击该岛之后从未有过的大入侵。根据官方数据,明年旅游者的数量预计将达到该国33万人口的七倍。相比之下,去年参观法国的旅游者仅仅是法国人的两倍。
Tourism is now the island’s biggest industry, taking over from fishing and aluminum smelting, much as the financial sector did in the years before the crash.
如今,旅游业取代了捕鱼和铝矿冶炼,成了该岛国最大的产业,就像经济崩溃前几年的金融产业一样。
The influx could be even higher following the rise of the Pirate Party. With its black pirate flag and anarchist leanings, it recently gained more seats in Parliament and even more attention, helping to burnish Iceland’s image as cool and alternative.
随着海盗党(Pirate Party)的崛起,旅游者可能还会继续增加。这个党以黑色的海盗旗为标志,带有无政府主义倾向,最近在议会获得了更多的席位,也得到了更多关注,它有助于打造冰岛酷炫与另类形象。
The number of tourists has risen by as much as 30 percent every year for the last four years, according to Iceland’s Tourist Board. They brought in revenues of $3.2 billion in 2015, a third of the country’s export earnings. Tourism is the single biggest employer, and many Icelanders are pouring money into services and new construction.
根据冰岛旅游局的统计,过去四年来,游客数量每年以30%的速度增加。2015年,他们为这个国家带来了32亿美元的收入,占该国出口收入的1/3。旅游业成了冰岛最大的工作机会提供者,许多冰岛人都把资金投入到服务业和兴建新建筑中去。
Mr. Palsson, who used to sell Iceland as a place to see the Northern Lights, employs an astronomer in his hotel. He has also invested in three expensive telescopes that are powerful enough for guests to see the rings on Saturn or the fuzzy glow of a distant dying star.
帕尔松曾经宣传过,冰岛是看北极光的好地方,他为自己的酒店雇用了一个天文学家,还投资购置了三个昂贵的望远镜,性能强大到可以让客人看清土星光环,或者远方某颗濒死恒星的柔和光晕。
Landsbref, a fund management company that was spun off from one of three failed Icelandic banks, set up a $37 million tourism fund.
基金管理公司兰德斯布里夫(Landsbref)的前身是三个破产的冰岛银行之一,如今它设立了一个3700万美元的旅游基金。
Reykjavik looks like a Scandinavian version of Singapore: compact, clean, orderly, and rich. Streets are lined with Crayola-color houses and Mercedes cars. Chic coffeehouses sell kale-and-date sandwiches, and play Ethiopian jazz. Restaurants offer inventive Nordic cuisine using local ingredients like puffin and shark. (One chef also proudly announced that Iceland now grows cucumbers, albeit in a greenhouse.)
雷克雅未克看上去很像斯堪的纳维亚的新加坡:紧凑、洁净、有序且富裕。街道两旁排列着色彩如儿童画般的房子,停靠着一辆辆梅赛德斯汽车。别致的咖啡馆出售羽衣甘蓝与椰枣制成的三明治,演奏着埃塞俄比亚爵士乐。餐厅提供使用海雀和鲨鱼等本土食材的创新北欧美食。(一位厨师还自豪地宣布,冰岛现在也能种植黄瓜了,虽然是在温室里。)
The 101, a boutique hotel that was once an exclusive hangout for bankers (101 is also the city’s richest postal code), is now filled with tourists. In a possible dig at the hotel’s former denizens, a sculpture of what looked like a gray-suited banker hung on one wall, with a cryptic instruction, “Disconnect the battery, remove the rear hood and hinge brackets,” inscribed beneath it.
一家名叫101的精品酒店曾经是银行业人士专享的聚会之地(101也是这座城市最富有地带的邮政编码),如今挤满了游客。可能是为了揶揄酒店的前住客们,有面墙上挂着一座雕塑,看起来像是一个身穿灰色西装的银行家,下面还题着一则晦涩难解的说明,“断开电池,去掉后引擎盖和铰链支架”。
Tourists come from as far as Hong Kong. They chase the Northern Lights. They scale glaciers. They dive in the Arctic Circle with puffins, go horseback riding or take helicopter tours listening to ethereal, whale-like sounds by the Icelandic band Sigur Ros. Fans of “Game of Thrones” flock to filming locations around the island, some, apparently, genuinely in search of Wildlings.
就连远在香港的游客都来到这里。他们追逐北极光。攀登冰川。和海鹦一起在北极圈潜水,骑马,或乘坐直升机去聆听冰岛乐队Sigur Ros鲸鱼般的空灵歌声。《权力的游戏》(Game of Thrones)的粉丝们蜂拥前往冰岛周边的拍摄地点,有些人则是真心实意地在寻找野人。
Outside the capital, thick white plumes of steam, which are harnessed for Iceland’s energy needs, rise in the sky, as if the earth were vaping. Hot springs are everywhere, even in people’s backyards.
首都郊外浓厚的白色蒸汽飘向天空,就好像泥土在蒸发。这种蒸汽被用来满足冰岛的能源需求。到处都是温泉,甚至在民宅后院就有。
But there is growing concern that uncontrolled tourism is placing too large a burden on this small island. Housing prices and rents are rising quickly, forcing young people to live with their parents. Car rentals have tripled, clogging traffic. Littering and light pollution are spoiling parts of the landscape, many Icelanders say.
但是越来越多的人担心,不加控制的旅游业正给这座小岛造成太大负担。房价和租金快速上涨,迫使年轻人与父母同住。汽车租赁涨了三倍,导致交通堵塞。很多冰岛人称,垃圾和光污染正在破坏部分景观。
“It’s like the city is not my city anymore,” Birgitta Jonsdottir, the leader of the Pirate Party, complained last month. “It’s like Disneyland downtown.”
“就好像这座城市不再是我的城市,”海盗党(Pirate Party)领袖比吉塔•约恩斯多蒂尔(Birgitta Jonsdottir)上个月抱怨说,“它就像迪士尼乐园(Disneyland)的市中心。”
A poll in October conducted by the national broadcaster RUV reported that 87 percent of Icelanders want the government to raise fees or taxes on tourists.
国家广播电视网RUV今年10月进行的一项民意调查显示,87%的冰岛人希望政府增加对游客的收费或税收。
The tourist boom is making some Icelanders uneasy. Another crash like the one that hit the banks is just a matter of time, and many said they are saving money or investing in hard assets.
旅游业的繁荣令有些冰岛人感到不安。再出现一次金融危机只是时间问题。很多人称,他们正在存钱或投资硬资产。
Pessimists say all it takes to prick the tourism bubble is a sudden drop in visitors, triggered by something like a financial crisis overseas or the adverse effects of Britain’s exit from the European Union.
悲观主义者称,戳破旅游业泡沫只需要游客数量的突然下降,比如由于国外的金融危机或英国退出欧盟造成的负面影响。
“It’s happening all over again,” said Kristjan Asjaersson, 51, a cabdriver. During Iceland’s short-lived heyday, he recalled having to crisscross the island just to deliver fish caught by Icelandic billionaires — they had forgotten to pack their catch before flying off in their private jets.
“一切正在重演,”51岁的出租车司机克里斯蒂安•阿斯加森(Kristjan Asjaersson)说。他回忆说,在冰岛短暂的繁荣时期,他不得不在岛上穿梭,只是为了运送冰岛亿万富翁捕的鱼——他们在乘坐私人飞机飞走之前,忘了打包自己捕的鱼。
“Too many people rely on tourism,” he said. “When tourist numbers fall, the economy will collapse again. I know it will happen. But I will be prepared.”
“太多人依赖于旅游业,”他说。“游客数量下降后,经济会再次崩溃。我知道肯定会这样。不过我会有所准备。”