• Home
  • Latest News
  • Cruise
  • Tools
  • Providers
  • About VG
Traveltrade - Visit Greenland
  • Home
  • Latest News
    • Travel Trade Forum
  • Webinars
  • Cruise
    • Cruise Call List
  • Tools
  • Provider Search
  • Press and PR
  • Market Development
    • Adventure Segments
    • Trade Shows
  • MICE
  • About Visit Greenland
    • Employees
    • Strategy
    • Job Opportunities
    • Contact
  • → Media Request Form
  • → VisitGreenland.com
  • Search
  • Four women waving hello in Narsaq in South Greenland. Photo by Mads Pihl

COVID-19 has made the population more positive towards tourists

If there are sufficient health-related restrictions, a majority of Greenland's population would like to have tourists back, despite COVID-19.

Published on May 27, 2021

Press release

The Greenlandic population has in general become more positive towards tourists. This is according to a new report made by Visit Greenland. The report is based on two surveys that were sent out in November 2019 and February 2021, to towns and villages with considerable tourism activity.

In the report, you can read that 91.5 percent of respondents in November 2019 had a positive

or predominantly positive attitude towards tourists in their town or village, if one ignores the “Do not know” and “Neither agree nor disagree” answers. This figure was 93.4 percent in February 2021. According to Visit Greenland’s Acting Director, Mads Skifte, there is a connection between the positive perception of tourists and COVID-19.

“In general, Greenlanders are happy about international tourists; we saw this even before COVID-19 hit. Now that we have experienced a whole year largely without tourists, it has become clear how much influence guests actually have in the local community. Therefore, residents seem excited to get them back, when this can be done responsibly for both guests and locals,” he says.

Confidence in tourists

Although Greenland is still closed to all international tourism, a majority of the respondents are comfortable with the current COVID-19 restrictions and they trust that tourists comply with them, according to figures from the report.

A majority of 55.3 percent respond that they would like to welcome tourists if they are tested before departure, go into five-day quarantine and are subsequently re-tested. Only 19 percent answer that they do not want tourists at all. As many as 62.9 percent believe that tourists comply with the relevant restrictions.

Respectful behaviour

When it comes to the behaviour of tourists, a large majority believe that tourists largely exhibit good behaviour. On the question of whether land-based tourists (i.e. all tourists except cruise guests) behave respectfully towards the population and culture, as many as 74 percent of respondents in 2021 answer fully or partially “yes”. This is an increase of three percentage points compared to 2019.

As many as 71.9 percent of respondents in 2021 also believe that cruise tourists make a positive contribution to the local community, which is an increase of 11.5 percentage points.

“The figures emphasise that there is a good relationship between locals and tourists, and we are of course very happy about this. It simply confirms that our work on sustainability, in the social context – both nationally and in our regional tourism organisations – has borne fruit,” explains Mads Skifte.

How the report is made:

  • The survey was conducted via random sampling through telephone interviews, in both Greenlandic and Danish, via HS Analyse.
  • In November 2019, Visit Greenland conducted the first resident survey, to find out about residents’ attitudes towards tourism in the country. At this time there were 831 respondents.
  • In February 2021, Visit Greenland conducted a new survey to examine the extent to which COVID-19 has influenced residents’ attitudes towards tourism. 700 residents participated in this survey.

For more information:

Mads Skifte

Mobile: (+299) 55 82 78
Email: mads@visitgreenland.com

Mads Lumholt

Mobile: (+45) 31 22 11 71
Email: lumholt@visitgreenland.com

Continues further down the page...

Explore related articles, offers and tour providers:

  • Providers
  • Regions
  • Sustainable tourism
  • Towns & settlements
  • Capital Region
  • Destination Arctic Circle
  • East Greenland
  • North Greenland
  • South Greenland

By Visit Greenland

Behind Greenland's largest travel site is the Visit Greenland that is 100% owned by the Government of Greenland, who is responsible for marketing the country's adventures and opportunities for guests wishing to visit the world's largest island

https://traveltrade.visitgreenland.com

Editors' pick

Cruise ship - The MSC Poesia in Nuuk. Photo Aningaaq R. Carlsen - Visit Greenland

Visit Greenland wants to highlight the challenges and potentials in cruise tourism

This summer, there has been much debate about cruise tourism in Greenland. Some believe that too many ships are calling with too few regulations, while others believe that capacity has not yet been reached.

  • #Regions
  • #Things to do & About
  • #Capital Region
  • #Cruises
  • #Destination Arctic Circle
  • #Diskobay
  • #East Greenland
  • #North Greenland
  • #South Greenland
  • #The National Park
Dandelions and icebergs in East Greenland near Tiniteqilaaq. Photo by Mads Pihl - Visit Greenland

Sermilik Adventures wins Greenland Tourism Award 2022

Tobias Ignatiussen and Line Kristiansen from Sermilik Adventures in Tasiilaq are this year’s recipients of the Greenland Tourism Award.

  • #Providers
  • #Regions
  • #Towns & settlements
  • #East Greenland
  • #Tasiilaq
  • #Tour Providers
Icefjord Centre and the path to the Ice Fjord from above. Photo - Adam Mork

Greenland is Great again: Ilulissat makes TIME’s The World’s Greatest Places to Visit in 2022

The new airports coming to Ilulissat and Nuuk will make these Times-listed places more accessible to the world.

  • #Ilulissat
  • #North Greenland
Anne Nivika Grødem, Acting CEO at Visit Greenland giving a speech at Future Greenland 2022. Photo by Greenland Business Association

The brand value of a sustainable Greenland

On the 18th of May in 2022, Anne Nivíka Grødem, Acting Director of Visit Greenland attended the Future Greenland event and gave a speech about the brand value of a sustainable Greenland.

  • #Sustainable tourism
More related articles
Visit Greenland
Traveltrade.visitgreenland.com is managed by Visit Greenland and provides a variety of resources for national and international operators working with tourism in Greenland.

Frequently Visited

  • Contact Info
  • Cruise Call List
  • Use of our media
  • Press and PR
  • Adventure in Greenland

Important Links

  • VisitGreenland.com
  • Our photobank
  • Tourism Statistics
  • Big Artic Five
  • Subscribe to our B2B Newsletter
Copyright Visit Greenland 2019 © Produced by Visit Greenland and KathArt Interactive
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • Pinterest
Scroll to top