Greenland is prepping for its tourism era

Travelers looking for a taste of #islandlife will soon have another option to consider. This month, United Airlines announced a nonstop, four-hour flight from Newark to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, the world’s largest island.

The route, beginning next summer, is a first for a US airline. And it’s expected to generate more tourism for the autonomous country within the nation of Denmark, which has been pushing to expand its number of visitors in recent years.

• Airlines operated flights with a combined 55,000 seats to Greenland from April–August of this year, according to the CEO of Greenland Airports. That figure is expected to nearly double next year in the same period, to about 105,000 seats.

If you build it, they will come

Greenland is roughly 3x the size of Texas, but has only ~57,000 residents. This limited population has resulted in an existing infrastructure that makes it tough to accommodate an influx of visitors.

Tourists travel by boat or small aircraft when venturing to different regions; virtually no roads connect towns or settlements. There also aren’t many places to stay. Nuuk, for example, has ~550 hotel rooms, according to government documents, while a tourism analysis published by Visit Greenland predicts there could be a shortage of rooms beginning in 2027.

But, similar to an influencer filming a drawn-out GRWM TikTok, Greenland has been prepping for what’s next for years. Companies and officials have been building out the island’s infrastructure so that, in tandem with airlines flying more routes into the country, it should be easier for foreigners to visit.

• An investment of $700+ million will yield three new airports, the first of which will open next month in Nuuk. These airports will be able to accommodate large jets, where before small turbo-prop planes were necessary.
• Air Greenland, which currently doesn’t fly nonstop from the US because there isn’t enough space to host all travelers in hotels, is building a new hotel in the city of Ilulissat to increase capacity when the airport opens – while the owner of Hotel Norbo, a 67-room property in Nuuk, is considering adding 50 more rooms to meet the coming demand.

🇬🇱 Walk the line: As nearby destinations like Iceland and Spain grapple with the consequences of overtourism, Greenland officials are working to find a balance between attracting more tourists – but not too many. New legislation that would further regulate tourism is expected to be passed in time for the 2025 season.