EMMA KJARTANSDÓTTIR

CEO Cruise Services, Iceland Travel | Vice Chairman, Cruise Iceland

Emma Kjartansdóttir has spent her career shaping Iceland into one of the world's most compelling cruise destinations. After studying Tourism Management in New Zealand, she returned home and joined Iceland Travel, where she has led the Cruise division since 2015. As a board member of Cruise Iceland for a decade, she has been a driving force behind the industry's strategic development at a national level.

Emma's approach is grounded in a simple but powerful conviction: great travel experiences go beyond the itinerary. She has built Iceland Travel's cruise offering around genuine partnerships with local communities, ensuring that tourism creates meaningful, reciprocal value — for visitors and residents alike. The result is an experience that feels authentically Icelandic rather than transactional.

A recognized voice in sustainable cruise tourism, Emma champions a model in which social responsibility and exceptional guest experience reinforce one another. She has demonstrated, time and again, that when communities are true partners in tourism, everyone benefits — and that Iceland's greatest asset is not just its landscapes, but the people and culture within them.