Iceland's popularity as a tourist destination looks likely to suffer from its government's decision to resume commercial whaling. But will a tourist boycott of the country help or hinder the anti-whaling lobby?

Greenpeace is asking holidaymakers to sign a "whale tourism pledge", which says they "would seriously consider taking a vacation in Iceland rather than somewhere else if the government of Iceland stopped whaling".

But Asbjorn Bjorgvinsson, chairman of the Icelandic Whale Watching Association, says tourists should continue to visit Iceland to support the tourism industry, which he claims is the only sector in the country fighting against whaling. In particular, he hopes visitors will go on whale-watching trips as this will support the case for whale-watching over whaling. The numbers of whale-watching tourists in Iceland has grown from a few hundred in the early 90s to nearly 90,000 this year, contributing almost as much to Iceland's economy as whaling did in its peak between 1950 and 1980, according to Bjorgvinsson.

Heimir Hardarson of North Sailing, which organised a third of all whale-watching trips in Iceland this year, says a "significant number" of holidaymakers have already cancelled next year's trip in protest.

Iceland travel specialist Discover the World (discover-the-world.co.uk) says that a boycott of the country would be counter-productive. Instead, it recommends travellers continue to go to Iceland "to make their feelings known to the relevant people". It also suggests that travellers write to the Icelandic government via the website of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (ifaw.org).