Is mass tourism destroying Greenland?

The climate emergency has a silver lining for the ever-growing international tourism industry. Places that were too cold before are now available to the public. One such place is Greenland which now has to battle with keeping its natural resources while taking advantage of touristic opportunities.

According to a New York Times article, the Greenlandic government wants to boost tourism and invests heavily in terminals and runways. The island, a part of Denmark with autonomy over most domestic affairs, hopes to receive large jets with visitors by 2024.

"We need to have more growth," Greenland's Prime Minister, Múte Bourup Egede, told The New York Times, "Right now, most of our money comes from fisheries. We need other income possibilities, and tourism is one of the key potentials for future growth in Greenland."

Currently, most of Greenland's visitors come from Denmark. According to its tourism authority, Visit Greenland, more than half of the more than 50,000 visitors it received in the first months of 2022 were Danish.

The chief executive of Air Greenland, Jacob Nitter Sorensen, told The New York Times that the company has Americans on sight. Only nearly 2,000 visitors came from the US in 2022, but right now, they all have to go through Copenhagen to reach the island.

For now, the impact of tourism in Greenland is minimal. Gabriel Leigh explains it in The New York Times: "the weather decides." It may be less cold with climate change, but it still means freezing. So, for now, the island is not very crowded.

Image: Annie Spratt/Unsplash

The authorities clearly state that preserving landscapes and culture is essential for Greenland. The growth in infrastructures or hotel supply is intended to be balanced.

Image: Visit Greenland / Unsplash

But good intentions are not enough. Tourism is usually challenging to limit. Between 2010 and 2019, according to data collected by Condé Nast Traveler, the number of visitors went from 460,000 per year to two million. The growing numbers of tourists could become too much for the island.

Another concern is how the tourism income is distributed on the island. The authorities claim it mainly benefits local businesses. However, the prominent industry actors (airlines, large operators, hotels, etc.) are dominated by multinationals.

Image: Annie Spratt/Unsplash

The Greenland authorities also want the money from tourism to help the survival of the Inuit culture, the original culture of this frozen northern island. According to The New York Times, the island's prime minister also sees the income as a safe road to eventual independence from Denmark.

Tourism is a safer and more sustainable choice for the territory. The government has been clear about its priorities with a ban on oil exploration and a delayed growth of profitable mining projects to protect their ecosystems and population.

Image: Dylan Shaw/Unsplash

An essential part of the plan to keep Greenlandic tourism sustainable is decentralization. The government hopes to avoid large concentrations of visitors in one specific island zone by spreading them.

Image: Alex Rose/Unsplash

Idrissia Therstrup, senior manager at Visit Greenland, explained to Condé Nast Traveler that "each region will have its own visitor center and a specific regional theme, promoting the variability of cultural, geological, culinary, and historical elements each place has to offer."

Condé Nast Traveler explains how Greenlandic authorities took a close look at how Iceland (in the image) managed to increase its tourist quota without causing a traumatic change for society and the landscape.

Image: Adam Jang/ Unsplash

The Greenland approach pretends that any new infrastructure is integrated with the island's landscape. The new visitor center, Ilulissat Icefjord Center, is an example. Its architecture is inspired by the shapes of a snowy owl's flight.

Image: dortemandrup.dk

Greenland is a sparsely populated territory: with around 57,000 inhabitants. And tourism can be a significant economic advance.

Image: Visit Greenland / Unsplash

According to Statista, tourism generated global revenue of 621,000 million dollars in 2021. Some 430 million tourists traveled around the planet.

Greenland has an opportunity to be an attractive destination with beautiful and unique landscapes. However, it has the challenge of finding the correct balance to keep its natural beauty safe.

Image: Tina Rolf/Unsplash