\n<\/p>\n
She adds: “Tourism is still a small industry here [2% of the economy]. But it’s broadening the labour market. It’s created jobs in the service sector and creative area.”<\/p>\n
The hope is that this economic diversification will encourage young islanders to stay rather than move abroad. A deep recession in the early 1990s saw thousands of people leave.<\/p>\n
Then in the early 2000s, unemployment rose sharply again when disease rocked the salmon industry. Of the dozens of salmon companies at the time, most went out of business.<\/p>\n
“We’re [still] quite vulnerable, but compared to where we were 15-20 years ago, it’s much, much stronger at this time,” says Mr Rogvi.<\/p>\n
“There has been an ongoing struggle for, I think, at least 50 years to get the younger people to stay here.”<\/p>\n
Many go to university abroad, and often don’t return. But with improved job and education prospects that’s begun to turnaround.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, rising immigration, coupled with Europe’s highest fertility rate, has seen the population climb to the already mentioned 52,000.<\/p>\n
“For us that’s an enormously high number,” says Mr Rogvi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n