While Other Locations Cry Overtourism, Greenland Is Seeking More Tourists

In the last couple of years since the pandemic, overtourism has raised its ugly head across the world. However, not all nations are suffering the effects of too many tourists. Greenland, the world’s largest island, wishes to welcome more travelers to its stark and lovely land.

Why is Greenland still pushing for more tourists?

Greenland has been in the media headlines recently as US President Donald Trump showed interest in taking over the island. However, while Denmark isn’t ready to hand over the world’s largest island, Greenland is seeking more tourists to explore its stark landscapes, ancient glaciers and history.

Moreover, visitors are almost guaranteed to experience the Northern Lights on the island. Tourism is a relatively new business for Greenland and with whale watching, iceberg treks and more, the island is calling out for more tourists than ever. Meanwhile, with Greenland’s economy 90 percent based on its fishing industry, the island believes that relying so heavily on that industry would potentially be risky.

Moreover, the island’s government aims to increase tourism to 40 percent of its economy by 2035. To get an idea of this, tourism revenue in 2023 was €250 million ($263 million) and needs to triple over the next decade to become close to 40 percent of the country’s export value.

Easier to visit Greenland

While Greenland works towards attracting more visitors, Nuuk, the island’s capital, opened its new international airport in October last year. While there was previously an airport in the capital from 1979, the runway was too short for larger aircraft and flights were limited to regional jet aircraft and small turboprop planes.

Now, with the new airport and long runway, Nuuk is ready to welcome more visitors. Airline route analyst James Pearson, said:

Previously, Nuuk did not have a sufficiently long runway or suitable terminal for non-stop flights to Europe or beyond. This meant that Air Greenland’s A330s had to fly from Kangerlussuaq, with most passengers connecting on to Nuuk.

Nuuk’s enhanced facilities will be vital for tourism and economic development.

Airlines planning to fly into Nuuk

Meanwhile, several airlines have already made the move to start serving Nuuk in 2025. Moreover, United Airlines is to launch a new, nonstop flight from Newark to Nuuk, starting September 25. Furthermore, Scandinavian airline SAS, is set to begin flights with larger planes from Copenhagen in June.

Tourism has already started to grow after Greenland welcomed a record number of visitors in 2023. Almost 40,000 people traveled there by air, 9 percent higher than 2022. Moreover, 76,000 arrived on cruise ships, almost twice as many as before the pandemic in 2019.