Close tourist magnet for music video

Icelandic environmental authorities have on Thursday decided to shut down public access to the trails at the canyon Fjadrargljufur.

It happens to protect against destruction of the ecosystem in and around the gap, which in recent years has been increasingly squeezed by an increasing number of visitors.

- In periods of thaw becomes the path to ufremkommeligt mud. It gets visitors to come over our fence and go in parallel with the path, which quickly destroys the plant life, says Daniel Freyr Johnson, an advisor in Iceland's environmental agency.

In 2015, released verdensstjernen Justin Bieber a music video for the song, I'll Show You, which Fjadrargljufur-gorge plays a prominent role. And it has had a noticeable effect.

since then, the number of visitors to the attraction each year has increased with 50 to 80 percent, according to Daniel Freyr Johnson.

He estimates that around 300,000 people went to the barely two-kilometer-long trip on the edge of the gap in 2018.

On YouTube is Justin bieber's video has been seen over 439 million times.

Fjadrargljufur-gorge is not the only naturattraktion, as the icelandic authorities have shut down due to pressure from tourists.

- the Infrastructure is not set up for so many visitors we now get, says Daniel Freyr Johnson.

A growing number have been temporarily closed down in recent years.

Fjadrargljufur-gorge are scheduled to be reopened 1. June.