Visit Greenland (VG) conducted the first online survey in collaboration with Greenland Travel (GT) in the fall of 2021, primarily recruiting respondents from GT’s and VG’s newsletter subscribers. Over 6,000 people participated in the survey across the three language versions: Danish, English, and German. The results can be found in this report (Danish).
Since 2012, VG has conducted regular in-person interviews with tourists in Greenland. However, this method of data collection has been expensive, and the temporary halt caused by Covid-19 prevented the collection of a representative sample in 2020 and 2021.
VG and GT agreed to repeat the online survey in February 2023, and this time they managed to recruit over 10,000 respondents, thanks in part to a larger effort in recruiting through Facebook ads.
The results largely resemble the ones collected in September 2021, partly because there were likely some respondents who were recruited through GT’s and VG’s newsletters again. However, there have been a few changes since then.
For Danish respondents, we obtained a “skewed” group in terms of age distribution. There is a significant overrepresentation of older age groups, which seems to push the results in a more “conservative” direction regarding travel habits, preferences, etc. For English and German respondents, we have a more representative sample. However, we see an overrepresentation of the 18-24 age group in the German-speaking sample, which was not the case in 2021.
Across all three language versions, there is an overrepresentation of people with higher education, which is consistent with what we have learned about our segments over time. It is important to note that the respondents voluntarily participated in the survey. As in 2021, we offered a travel gift card worth 20,000 DKK from Greenland Travel, which has proven to be an effective way to recruit participants. Therefore, it can be assumed that people with no interest in Greenland did not participate.
For all three language versions, we see that most people typically take 2-4 trips abroad per year. Most people plan their trips themselves and book them directly online with the provider. However, Danish respondents are more likely to use travel agencies for bookings, which is partly due to having an older sample compared to English and German respondents.
The distribution of our three main segments is as follows, with an overrepresentation of Immersive Adventurers (Danish: 63.6%, English: 56.6%, German: 47.1%); a moderate share of Soft Adventurers (Danish: 26.2%, English: 31.3%, German: 44.1%). Ultimate Adventurers make up the smallest segment (Danish: 11.8%, English: 18.5%, German: 19.3%).
These questions are reserved for respondents who have previously visited Greenland. Not surprisingly, Danish respondents predominantly traveled via Copenhagen (89.3%). For German respondents, 78.9% traveled via Copenhagen. For English respondents, about half (49.2%) traveled via Copenhagen, while the rest traveled via Iceland. Surprisingly, over half of the respondents from North America traveled to Greenland via Copenhagen.
68.6% of Danish, 52.3% of English, and 55.7% of German respondents stayed in Greenland for at least 9 nights.
Nature and natural phenomena were the main reasons for visiting Greenland (Danish/English/German), followed by “I have long been fascinated by Greenland” as the second reason. 5.8% of English and 8.1% of German respondents thought that Greenland has an atmosphere of magic and mystique (only 1.7% for Danish respondents). 17.6% of Danish, 6.1% of English, and 1.4% of German respondents would visit friends/family.
The four most popular products (Danish/English/German) are a good mix of nature- and culture-based experiences: 1) Boat trips 2) Museum visits 3) Village visits 4) Guided tour to the ice sheet.
The majority of respondents (Danish/English/German) booked their trips between 1 and 12 months in advance, although German respondents tended to book further in advance compared to Danish and English respondents. Danish respondents predominantly booked through travel agencies, while English and German respondents primarily booked directly online with the provider.
On average, Danish and English respondents spent around 20,000 DKK per person for the entire trip and between 500 and 1,000 DKK per day per person (excluding transportation and accommodation). German respondents spent slightly more than Danish and English respondents.
For Danish respondents, “recommendations from friends/family” (word of mouth) are the main source of inspiration. For English and German respondents, travel books and TV (and other visual content) are the primary sources of inspiration.
Iceland, Svalbard, and Norway were the top three other destinations considered by respondents when deciding to travel to Greenland (Danish, English, German).
Regarding “best experiences in Greenland,” there is considerable agreement that the “journey as a whole” was the best. For Danish respondents, “nature and natural phenomena” rank second. For English and German respondents, “ice” ranks second.
“Delays and cancellations” and “mosquitoes/flies” are the top two negative experiences. “Litter” and “social problems” come in third and fourth place.
Greenlandic citizens are perceived as extremely hospitable (Danish: 79.6%, English: 84.2%, German: 84.2%), while most respondents have not experienced language problems (Danish: 89.5%, English: 86.5%, German: 93.1%).
Greenland scores very high in terms of “satisfaction with the trip to Greenland.” Danish: 80.7% give a rating of 5/5, while 16.7% give 4/5. English: 78.4% give 5/5, while 18.8% give 4/5. German: 81.3% give 5/5, while 13.8% give 4/5.
The majority of respondents who had not visited Greenland expressed a desire to visit the country; otherwise, they probably would not have signed up for the survey.
Most of these respondents would like to travel more than a year into the future, with English respondents having the highest proportion of those willing to wait 2 years or more before going.
You can read the full report on the survey results, including graphs and comments on each result, at vg.gl/gt-vg23.
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