How to get tourism business to Greenland

You have a tourist product that you think could be a winner, and you want to get it out there to as many potential clients as possible. But how do clients actually find and book your product?

Published on July 10, 2019

There are a few different models of getting customers to use your business. You can do direct business with customers, for example through walk-ins or online bookings. Most businesses do a mix of working directly with customers and through international agents and destination management companies.

CREATING BUSINESS DEMAND

Check out a typical cycle to create demand for business that we in Greenland use outlined in this graphic:

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HOW VISIT GREENLAND CONTRIBUTES TO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Visit Greenland and the regional DMOS also play a part in creating and maintaining demand for your destination. You can see that we help out on all spectrums of the scale:

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IT TAKES TIME

Sometimes, an agent is ready to immediately take on a new product from Greenland without even having been to Greenland. Quite often, however, it can take months to years for an agent to add on a new product. It depends on different factors, for example, how ready their clients are for this new destination and how much knowledge and contacts an agent already has within the new market.

Here are some examples of how long it took with these three different agents:

Regent Holidays is an agency with a reputation for daring to visit the unexplored places. Greenland has been on their product list for many years, but they stopped selling East Greenland at a point due to their Destination Management Agency dropping this option. Fasttrack to Vestnorden 2017, a product manager visited East Greenland and renewed relations with the local operators and hotels. They are now selling this destination directly with their on-site partners.
Hauser is a German operator who is well established in East Greenland – in fact, in 1984 they pioneered tourism in Tasiilaq together with Robert Peroni from The Red House! However, Hauser was looking to expand beyond the East and after time investigating South Greenland in 2017 and contact with the right partners, they are planning to create a new trekking product in the home of Erik the Red ready for 2020.
Wilderness Travel took years to consider Greenland, but after several meetings about potential product and business matches they finally took up Greenland. They visited Greenland on a FAM trip for the first time in 2013 and since then have sent guests all over the country via land and sea.”

 IMPORTANT ELEMENTS IN A SUPPLIER / CLIENT RELATIONSHIP:

Local knowledge supports the international demand
Nurture a steady supplier relationship
Local experienced and well trained guides is important
Companies should share similar values
The international client’s customer base is established and matches the local product

WHY WORK WITH INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS?

Benefits
- It increases your company’s global rea
- Marketing is taken care of by partner
- Sales and client admin taken care of
- Opens up further opportunities
- You do what you do best as an outfitter
 Risks
- Eggs in fewer baskets than if you were selling directly
- Loss of a major partner could be very challenging

TOURISM TERMS DEFINED

Not everyone knows the nitty gritty differences between all the different terminology within tourism. Here is a quick overview of the most important tourism players in Greenland, defined by the Global Development Research Center.

Agents – One who acts or has the power to act as the representative of another. Most frequently in travel anyone other than a principal, such as a retail travel agent, receiving agent, ticket agent, local operator or wholesaler (usage uncommon in No. America)
Tour operator – A person or company which creates and/or markets inclusive tours and subcontracts with suppliers to create a package. Most tour operators sell through travel agents and/or directly to clients.
Destination management companies (DMC) – A company working in a specific destination to handle all bookings and arrangements for tours or conferences, including hotel accommodation, transfers, sightseeing, meetings and special events. Tour operators or conference planners are likely to use the services of a DMC because of their specialist local knowledge.
Destination marketing organisation (DMO) – A category of membership of the National Tour Association which includes state or provincial tourism offices, convention and visitors bureaus, and chambers of commerce which promote a city, region, or state as a travel destination.
Destination management organisation (DMO) – Now the term DMO is shifting more and more towards meaning Destination Management Organisation, which is more about managing the destination itself beyond marketing.
Outfitters – A business that provides services or equipment at a recreational facility

So how do I start?

Do you have a new product that you would like to promote to agents or media, or would like to get help in contact with the right people? Contact us at Visit Greenland and we will follow up with you B2B@visitgreenland.com or (+299) 34 28 20.

By Tanny Por

Tanny is a world citizen who helps to share the outside - inside perspective of travelling in Greenland. She also works with strategic initiatives in the areas of content marketing and destination development for Visit Greenland.

https://thefourthcontinent.com/