Greenland’s national brand
The core story about Greenland’s “Pioneering Nation” brand.
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Denmark remains the largest single tourism market for Greenland with 32% of all flight passengers residing in Denmark. However, there has been stagnation in the Danish market in recent years. Greenland’s efforts in Denmark primarily consist of providing travel agents and agencies with marketing materials and data that support their own sales efforts. The goal is to maintain the Danish market share in an overall growth scenario. The growth target for the Danish market is 1% annually in the strategy period 2016-2019.
Iceland is not a primary tourism market in itself; instead, it is an important partner as a hub for tourists travelling to Greenland via Keflavik Airport and Reykjavík Airport, and for those taking Iceland-Greenland combination trips. Greenland’s efforts in Iceland are therefore centered around supporting the air routes between Iceland and Greenland, as well as establishing close collaboration with Icelandic operators and stakeholders on marketing materials, market research, market-specific campaigns, FAM Trips and press visits. In order to underpin joint tourism projects and market research in selected markets, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands work closely together via NATA (North Atlantic Tourism Association).
The USA and Canada combined are a larger market than Germany, and they showed a remarkable growth of 124% from the second half of 2014 to the second half of 2015. As the travel market in North America is huge, Greenland’s efforts in the USA and Canada are focused around mapping potential operators, managing relationships with existing operators that have Greenland in their destination portfolios, making follow-up visits, linking North American agencies with local operators, prioritizing North American journalists on press tours, placing stories about Greenland as a tourist destination in American media, participating in relevant trade shows, workshops and joint events with the Greenlandic representation as well as providing marketing materials and the option to advertise on Greenland.com. The growth target for the North American market is 15% annually in the strategy period 2016-2019.
The second largest single tourism market in Greenland is Germany, and it saw a growth of 22% from the second half of 2014 to the second half of 2015. In 2012, a market survey showed that Germans have a vast knowledge of Greenland. Greenland’s efforts in Germany are concentrated on mapping promising travel agencies or expanding their involvement in Greenland, making offers for FAM Trips in Greenland, prioritizing German journalists on press tours, participating in relevant trade shows as well as providing marketing materials and the option to advertise on Greenland.com. The growth target for the German market is 15% annually in the strategy period 2016-2019
France and Great Britain are defined as primary tourism markets in Greenland, as both have exhibited solid growth (22% and 42%, respectively, from the second half of 2014 to the second half of 2015) and as both are developing great market share potential in Iceland. In the strategy period, Greenland’s efforts in France and Great Britain will primarily focus on mapping potential and existing purveyors of Greenland as well as establishing longer collaborations with them on FAM Trips, press efforts, knowledge-building on the possibilities in Greenland along with supporting sales efforts via marketing materials, tools and the option to advertise on Greenland.com. In the strategy period 2016-2019, the growth target for the French market is 15% annually and for the Great Britain market it is 10% annually.
Though the numbers from individual Asian tourism markets are still relatively small, Greenland has experienced large growth from especially Taiwan and China in the last couple of years. These markets are considered very promising for Greenland, especially due to their development in Iceland as well. Greenland’s tourism efforts in Asia are based on three types of collaborations. First, a partnership with Scandinavian and Icelandic stakeholders, like tourist boards and airlines, to increase visibility of our region’s overall experiences and accessibility. Second, a collaboration with stakeholders directly in the Asian markets to map existing and potential purveyors of Greenland trips, to identify relevant media, and to plan FAM Trips and agent workshops. Third and finally, a collaboration with the Government of Greenland to promote tourism as one viable element in the broad spectrum of several industries in Greenland. The growth target for the Asian market is 15% annually in the strategy period 2016-2019.
After a number of years with a decline in cruise passenger numbers, 2015 exhibited a welcome growth of 11%. The new and improved framework conditions have created a need for proactive information aimed at existing cruise lines and have opened the opportunity to contract new cruise lines. Greenland’s efforts directed at the larger trans-Atlantic cruise lines are primarily focused on maintaining and creating contacts, supporting route planning, providing information on navigation rules and other framework conditions, and participating in cruise trade shows in the USA and Europe. For the smaller expedition cruise lines, collaboration will focus on content development, marketing, product development and training, and it will include visits and participation in workshops, etc. The growth target for the cruise industry is 3.5% annually (in terms of number of cruise passengers in Greenland) in the strategy period 2016-2019.
In the near future, a visitor center is expected to be established in Ilulissat in connection with the Ilulissat Icefjord – the UNESCO World Heritage Site – and it is the ambition to spread visitor centers across the country. Visit Greenland will support this development by promoting the initiatives of the Government of Greenland and the municipalities, as they work to establish future visitor centers.
1. A screening and prioritizing of international agents and travel agencies based on their client groups/segments and their existing or potential interest in Greenland as a destination. The same goes for media based on their target audiences.
2. One-on-one meetings between Visit Greenland and relevant international businesses in the primary markets with a goal to gain a nuanced understanding of their customer profiles and travel concepts, their interest in Greenland and their needs for marketing support, Greenlandic collaborators and experience products.
3. On the basis of these meetings, the international businesses are once again prioritized by their value as collaborative partners for Greenland-based businesses.
4. The most relevant international businesses are invited to join FAM Trips and regional workshops in Greenland, where they get to meet local operators and experience the products firsthand.
It is a key task for Visit Greenland to contribute to creating the opportunity for commercial collaborations and partnerships between Greenlandic operators that provide the products and the international agents and agencies that have the customers. In order to carry out the relatively expensive FAM Trips and regional workshops, it is a prerequisite that these events are planned and financed in close cooperation with local municipalities and business councils.