Paradoxically, whale watching by tourists to Iceland is booming. At the same time, the primary economic support for the hunting of whales by Icelandic whalers are also tourists to the island.
Iceland is the largest whale watching destination in Europe. Around 20% of all tourists who visit Iceland go whale watching, which is to say somewhere between 300,000 and 400,00 tourists yearly.
Along with Japan and Norway, Iceland is also one of only three countries still engaging commercial whaling. And who is eating all the whale meat? Tourists. Tourists eat about 70% of all whale meat from Icelandic whaling. Icelanders eat around 2%. The rest is exported, mostly to Japan.
So, basically, tourists support both the growth of Icelandic whale watching while at the same time providing an economic foundation for Icelandic whaling.