But Greenland still attracts visitors with its stunning natural backdrop of glaciers and icebergs. Adventurers enjoy kayaking, hiking and dog sledding in the vast wilderness. The midnight sun, Northern Lights and colourful villages only add to this Arctic destination’s allure.
We asked Aleqa Hammond, Greenland’s first female prime minister (2013-2014), how to explore this land of contrasts. “Greenland is so vast and huge and undiscovered in many ways that after the Ilulissat Icefjord received a World Heritage site designation in 2004, it was not recognised by Unesco again for another 13 years,” she says. “It has three now, which shows that the country has so much to offer.”
In November 2024, Nuuk International Airport opened in the country’s capital. And in 2026, two more international airports will open – in Ilulissat, Greenland’s third-largest city, and Qaqortoq, in southern Greenland. As Greenlanders prepare for an influx of visitors, Hammond is optimistic. “Everybody wants this change because we want to have a stronger economy, and we want to be more self-sufficient.”
According to the Greenlandic Ministry of Business, Trade, Mineral Resources, Justice and Gender Equality, over the past five years, tourism in Greenland has grown by 46%; primarily due to a surge in demand from travellers eager to explore new destinations after Covid-19 – particularly those with wide-open spaces. The numbers are expected to rise with the new airports.
But “Greenland does not want mass tourism,” says Hammond. “Greenland wants better tourism. We want tourism that’s to the benefit of the people of this country, not to overwhelm us. It’s going to be a very controlled place, and that makes it special.”
Here are Hammond’s favourite ways to experience Greenland.
