A vast ice sheet, glaciers, deep fjords, icebergs the size of multistorey car parks, tundra, abundant whales, clear skies popping with stars, explorer history and Inuit culture: there are plenty of reasons to visit Greenland.
Still, for so long Greenland slipped well under tourism’s radar. Now that has changed thanks to global politics, the trend towards more adventurous remote tourism, and the impact of climate change. Greenland suddenly has the world’s attention.
US President Donald Trump has propelled Greenland centre stage with his threats to acquire the huge island, a Danish autonomous territory. While those expansionist desires ruffled many feathers, it was a tourism marketing coup for Greenland.
The territory has been trying to diversify from its heavy reliance on fishing, currently 85 per cent of its export earnings. It wants tourism to account for 40 per cent by 2035.
To that end, it opened a new airport in Nuuk in November 2024 for large passenger jets. United, SAS, Icelandair and Air Greenland now offer direct flights to Copenhagen, New York and Reykjavik. Other international airports will open in Ilulissat and Qaqortoq this year.
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Greenland had a record number of tourist visitors in 2024, though at about 150,000 the figure is tiny in world terms. Many visitors arrive off cruise ships, which made 700 visits to 19 Greenlandic destinations in 2024.
In 2022, nearly 40,000 cruise passengers visited Greenland. In 2023, that rose to 76,477 and in 2024 it reached 95,185.
Cruise lines are ramping up their Greenland itineraries. HX, which has more than two decades of Greenland experience, has a record four ships there this season. Aurora Expeditions is sending two ships in 2027.
Other expedition companies that operate in Greenland include Atlas Ocean Voyages, Lindblad, Ponant, Scenic, Silversea and Quark.
Expedition ships generally visit East Greenland or, often in combination with the Canadian Arctic, West Greenland. Mainstream ocean lines on transatlantic crossings are increasingly stopping at ports in southern Greenland.
Not everything is rosy when it comes to Greenland’s newfound fame. It has a fragile environment and dated infrastructure.
The Greenland government has proposed new legislation that would ban cruise ships from large swathes of the island, partly in response to the difficulties it had in sending assistance to a cruise ship that ran aground in remote Alpefjord, north-east Greenland, in 2023.
Small tourism operators have also been irritated by visiting cruise vessels; locals prevented a ship from entering Ilulissat in 2024. They say that the promised benefits of cruise visits haven’t materialised, with cruise lines and intermediary tour agents pocketing most of the shore-excursion income.
Dialogue between government, locals and the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators appears to have calmed choppy waters. Government initiatives are improving the regulation, co-ordination and sustainability of cruise ship visits. You can bet that many more ships will arrive over the next few years.
Brian Johnston seemed destined to become a travel writer: he is an Irishman born in Nigeria and raised in Switzerland, who has lived in Britain and China and now calls Australia home.From our partners
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
