Greenland bets on responsible tourism
Greenland is the world’s largest island . If you look at a map or a globe , you’ll find it way at the top, sandwiched between the North Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. And on most maps, it’s not green; it’s colored white .
And for good reason. About 80 percent of its land mass is covered in ice—and even many of the parts not under ice are uninhabitable . Just 56,000 people live in Greenland, and almost all of them are clustered in a few towns on the southwestern coast . The capital, Nuuk, has fewer than 20,000 people.
Those outside the capital live in small communities , many of which are not connected to one another —or to the outside world — by road . To get anywhere , residents use a network of small planes and helicopters operated by the government-owned airline , Air Greenland.
Like many very remote areas, Greenland is a place of natural beauty . In the winter, it’s a great place to see the Northern Lights. In the summer, visitors hike remote landscapes and kayak among floating icebergs .
Greenland is open to visitors, but you need to work hard to get there. There are direct flights on small planes from Canada and Iceland. But to visit from mainland Europe, you need to start in Copenhagen, fly to a military airport in Greenland, and then take a shorter plane ride to Nuuk. That’s why about half of visitors to Greenland arrive on cruise ships .
But that is about to change: Greenland is adopting a new tourism strategy . And as part of the strategy, Greenland is renovating or building three airports at a cost of $800 million—or, about $14,000 per citizen .
The first project is in Nuuk itself. The airport will get a modern , international terminal and a runway long enough to accommodate larger aircraft that will come from Europe and North America. The flight from the east coast of the U.S. and from mainland Europe is about four hours. The idea is to attract visitors from both continents—or to allow tourists to stop over on their way from one to the other.
This is what neighboring Iceland has done. From New York, you can fly to Iceland in just a few hours, and get an exotic , international vacation without the time and expense of going all the way to mainland Europe. But if you are going to London, Paris, Amsterdam, or Rome, you can add a few days in Iceland on your way .
The strategy has worked almost too well for Iceland. Because stopovers are short, most tourists go to the same handful of attractions close to the capital, Reykjavik. There aren’t enough hotel rooms to accommodate everyone, especially during the surge of visitors in the high season. Housing prices have risen as homes have been converted to short-term rentals . And locals complain of visitors carelessly trampling all over the fragile ecosystem .
Greenland wants to avoid this fate . It’s planning legislation that would protect some areas from tourism and require tour operators to be locally owned . They hope this keeps tourism spending on the island and that visitors get an authentic , environmentally responsible tour experience.
And Greenland’s tourism strategy includes destinations beyond just Nuuk. In the coming years, new airports will open in Ilulissat, the most popular tourist destination, and in Qaqartoq, in the south. Air Greenland hopes to connect international travelers with these other tourist hubs to spread the impact of new visitors.
One big challenge is accommodation. Nuuk has a grand total of 550 hotel rooms in the whole city. And that’s the capital! Air Greenland is building its own hotels in Ilulissat to handle all the travelers expected to arrive when that airport opens in 2026.
If this sounds like a big investment for a small population—it is. But the potential rewards are also great. Greenland estimates that every big plane that lands at its new airport will bring $200,000 in spending by passengers . United Airlines has committed to flying twice a week from the New York area during the summer months, starting in 2025.
Greenland hopes the infrastructure improvements bring benefits beyond tourism. It’s very hard for residents and international businesspeople to get to and from the island. So better air connections with other countries can help residents feel more connected to the world. They may also open the island up to new business opportunities. Now that bigger planes can land, Greenland hopes to be able to boost the amount and variety of imported and exported goods .
Jeff’s take
It’s not so unrealistic to stop there. Greenland is way north and highly remote . But the flight path between the U.S. or Canada and Europe either already passes over Greenland, or it comes close, so a stop in Greenland might not add much time to a flight to Europe.
Anyway, this story kind of makes me want to go to Greenland now! I’ve always been curious about this little place—actually big place. It’s part of Denmark, so its citizens are citizens of the European Union. If you look at pictures, the houses look nice, the scenery is beautiful, but the communities are very, very small and very, very remote.
The tourism agency in Greenland did a study that said the average tourist would spend between four and ten nights during a visit. I think that is extremely optimistic ! I don’t know what you would do in Greenland for ten nights, unless you’re a real outdoor enthusiast .
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