Greenland has taken drastic measures to prepare for an enormous influx of American tourists – as the number of American travelers heading to the island could double by next year.
The arctic country attracted the attention of American travelers as popular destinations became overcrowded.
Now the island known for its rich culture, wildlife and breathtaking scenery has stepped up its efforts to support its hotspot status.
“It’s the roar before the herd comes,” Mads Mitchell, general manager of Hotel Nordbo in Nuuk, told the Wall Street Journal.
United Airlines announced a nonstop flight from Newark Liberty Airport this month New Jersey to Nuuk.
Greenland has caught the attention of American travelers and is ramping up efforts to meet future tourist demands
In the photo: The colorful town of Tasiilaq in Greenland. In response to a greater influx of tourists, some areas of Greenland could have stricter tourism rules than others, as discussed in a May proposal
The four-hour seasonal flight will be a convenient alternative to stopovers and connecting flights.
Aircraft are planned to start flying the new route in June 2025. A United Airlines 787 MAX 8, which can hold 166 passengers, will depart for Greenland twice a week.
Andrew Nocella, the airline’s chief commercial officer, told the Wall Street Journal: ‘We’re looking for new destinations, we’re looking for hot destinations and destinations, most importantly, we can make money in.’
Meanwhile, Air Greenland has not offered a non-stop flight from the US because the country does not have enough hotel space to hold all the tourists arriving at once.
People on a raft next to icebergs (photo). The island is known for its rich culture and breathtaking scenery
Tourists swarm London (photo). Greenland is expected to become a popular tourist spot as Americans flock to the island
Greenlandic tourism officials told the Wall Street Journal that no US airline had ever offered anything like this.
Managing the travel boom is now the small country’s biggest concern.
In 2018, the country invested more than $700 million to establish three new airports. The first is expected to open in Nuuk next month, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Nuuk Airport will be the hub for the national airline, Air Greenland.
The others will open along the line in Ilulissat and Qaqortoq. In addition, a new hotel is being built in Ilulissat to accommodate more people.
Pictured: Kolonihavn, a town in Nuuk, which will receive a direct flight from the United States for the first time
Greenlandic officials have also been working on new laws to regulate tourism during the 2025 season. These rules will allow communities to restrict travelers when they see fit.
The law proposed in May, according to the Polar Journalwould allow the government to divide the country into red, yellow and green zones.
Green zones will indicate that tour operators can use them freely, while yellow zones will require certain standards to be met by a company before entering the area.
Tourism will be completely banned from red zones.
From April to August, flights with a total of 55,000 seats arrived in Greenland, just 1,000 shy of its population.
Jens Lauridsen, CEO of Greenland Airports, told the outlet that this number could double to 105,000 in the same period next year.
This doubled figure is a sharp change from previous years.
Mitchell said he is open to the tourists, but is rightly concerned that too many will come at once.
He told the Wall Street Journal: ‘Like in Barcelona, you get tired of tourists because there are too many, and it pushes the locals out.
‘So it’s finding this balance of like showing the love for Greenland and showing the wonderful possibilities, but not getting too much too fast.’
While the world’s largest island is three times the size of Texas, there are hardly any roads to connect different Greenlandic regions, so tourists must use a small plane or boat to travel from place to place.
Three new airports are planned, so more visitors can see Greenland’s resident polar bears (file photo)
‘Of course there are discussions about avoiding mass tourism. But at the moment I think there is a natural limit in terms of the receiving capacity,” Jacob Nitter Sørensen, CEO of Air Greenland Group, told the Wall Street Journal.
In 2023, foreign tourists will bring more than $270 million to Greenland’s economy, according to a government-owned tourism agency. Visit Greenland.
A government report revealed that there was a nine percent increase in tourists flying in from other countries in 2023. Cruise ship tourism was also at an all-time high, with 76,477 passengers arriving in the country.
About 43.6 percent of those passengers were from the US, according to the report. Americans accounted for the largest portion of cruise ship visitors.
Greenland is a self-governing region belonging to Denmark. The International Trade Commission reports that about 20 percent of Greenland’s gross domestic product and half of its public budget come from Denmark.
Pictured: An Air Greenland plane at a Nuuk airport. Air Greenland did not offer non-stop flights from America to Greenland
Denmark provides the island with an annual $511 million block grant.
Greenland has invested in airports and the overall tourism industry to strengthen its role in the economy.
Based on a Visit Greenland survey, citizens had a ‘very positive view of tourism in the country’.
However, those surveyed also “expressed concern and dissatisfaction with the increasing number of travelers coming to the country,” according to a report.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Visit Greenland wrote: ‘The ease of getting from New York to Nuuk and vice versa will strengthen relations between the two countries and inherently develop tourism and business.
‘At Visit Greenland this growth does not come without responsibility. We are focused on attracting the right guests to come to Greenland and preparing tourists that Greenland is in the Arctic, and all that comes with it.
‘We are focused on developing a tourism industry that balances what guests want, what the destination needs and what the industry can provide.’
