The need for a destination office is considered obvious.

The need for a destination agency in the capital region is obvious.

Tourism Conference Association of Local Authorities in the Capital Region (SSH) took place on Wednesday, 27th April
at the Hilton Nordica.
In parliament, the lead-up to the establishment of a destination agency for the capital region was discussed, and took
Parties from tourism companies, local authorities and the public sector took part. 

The capital region needs to be competitive. 

Gunnar Einarsson,
Chairman of the SSH board, opened the conference and on that occasion discussed the importance of
„that the capital region is competitive with other capital regions in a wide range of areas, so
in terms of education, housing, employment, transport and, last but not least, as an interesting place for everyone
to establish, experience and learn about”.
The guest speaker was Leena Lassila from Helsinki Partners. She spoke about the main milestones on the way to
on putting Helsinki on the world map and how that journey would be structured. She emphasised
the importance of networking and collaboration and reported on development projects that had been undertaken with that aim
to introduce Helsinki to tourists and locals. 

Skarphéðinn Berg Steinarsson The Director of Tourism described how policymaking had taken place in
relationships with the establishment of destination organisations across the country and welcomed that such work was finally getting under way
a place in the capital region. 

Thordis Loa Thorhallardottir The chairman of the City Council discussed the City of Reykjavík's projects in tourism.
and emphasised the many opportunities that lay in cooperation between the municipalities of the capital region.
This would make it possible to achieve better use of funds, load management and the shared use of knowledge and skills.
capital region. 

Rannveig Grétarsdóttir The director of Elding took up the same theme; now it would be possible to strengthen
competitiveness, awareness and knowledge of the destination and to foster harmony with the residents. She also pointed out
that the prerequisite for success would be that the companies themselves had the opportunity and interest in such cooperation. 

Arnheiður Jóhannsdóttir The director of the Marketing Bureau of Northland said that the experience there
was that cooperation would increase its impact and described investment and development work in North-West Iceland. She described
the 5×5 ski area project, the establishment of the aviation cluster, and spoke about the North Coast Route which had begun
which started as a small project, grew, and is today one of the major projects that calls for infrastructure development and
the collective knowledge of all stakeholders in the area. 

Finally, described Björn H. Reynisson Project manager for the build-up to the journey towards
Destination Authority of the Capital Region. ,"This project cannot be completed without
cooperation of all” said Björn ,The destination's focus is on nature, well-being, culture and the arts and
sustainable development. It will be on this foundation that we will work on a destination plan that will
to be available in January next year. He also said that when a destination plan is in place, it will
Stakeholders in the capital region are preparing to establish a destination board. ,Everyone agrees that
the need, but for this to become a reality, all stakeholders must be ready for the project.” said
he finally. 

All further information on the preparatory work for the Capital Region Destination Authority is provided by
Björn H. Reynisson, Project Manager: bjorn@ssh.is / 863-0001