Faroe Islands Launch Self-Guided Tour Vehicles

If you happen to ever end up craving extra from a visit—one thing actual, one thing native, one thing past the guidebooks—don’t construct your itinerary across the common “must-see” spots. In actual fact, in response to a 2024 McKinsey & Firm report, round 80 p.c of vacationers go to simply 10 p.c of worldwide points of interest—leaving a lot of the world untouched and unexplored.

It’s no totally different within the Faroe Islands, a Danish archipelago within the North Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and Norway. However within the Faroe Islands, they’re doing one thing attention-grabbing about it.

With the assistance of Google Maps, Go to Faroe Islands (the official tourism board) lately launched a fleet of rental vehicles with a built-in tour information. While you hire one in all these autos, you comply with observe an itinerary that results in among the islands’ quieter, lesser-known corners—from roadside eateries to tiny villages tucked in spectacular fjords. The concept is to keep away from the crowds going to the subsequent “must-see” website and as an alternative encourage guests to expertise the islands’ lesser-touristed spots. While you hire the automobile, you comply with observe the automobile’s step-by-step instructions, with no concept what the day’s locations might be.

“Throughout the globe, vacationers collect across the identical iconic ‘scorching spots’, pushed by algorithms and social media that create a closed ecosystem the place pictures from common locations appeal to much more folks to these very places. The result’s overtourism—and predictable experiences,” Guðrið Højgaard, chief government officer for Go to Faroe Islands, stated in a press launch obtained by Journey + Leisure. “Faroe Islands have skilled rising stress on chosen websites themselves, and now we try to reverse the movement—fairly actually.”

After reserving with 62N automobile rental, a companion of Go to Faroe Islands, vacationers scan a QR code to activate turn-by-turn instructions that result in the day’s websites. Alongside the best way, native tales are shared. 

Along with taking vacationers to regionally cherished locations, the itinerary helps disperse vacationers, who historically all head to a vacation spot’s “high three websites.” It’s a first-of-its-kind strategy to curbing overtourism, whereas giving vacationers experiences they crave—these which are regionally pushed, genuine, and void of crowds.

“We got down to discover how expertise and creativity may provide a brand new method for vacationers to find the Faroes—one which leads them into locations they may by no means discover on their very own,” stated Højgaard. “This can be a extra considerate sort of journey, designed to each defend what’s most beloved and reveal spots usually missed. With this initiative, we hope to guide by instance, demonstrating how locations can embrace innovation to unfold tourism extra responsibly and meaningfully.” 

The 30 itineraries, which have been curated from a locals’ views, embody actions like visiting a roadside fish-and-chip stand, a hike within the fjords, and a go to to historic websites set alongside Europe’s tallest sea cliffs. 

The Faroe Islands’ self-navigating vehicles could be booked on the Faroe Islands’ tourism website beginning July 8. Charges begin at round $103 a day and are not any dearer than a standard rental automobile—although they embody the price of the itinerary and audio information.