i don't know about iceland specifically, but at least some countries offer various working visas, so you can stay in the country for a year and work to fund it.

i don't know about iceland specifically, but at least some countries offer various working visas, so you can stay in the country for a year and work to fund it. the folks using those are bit a more likely to end up with jobs in tourism, because they speak the language of the tourists, and they want to be in tourist destinations themselves, being a different form of tourist.