Donald Trump’s relentless drive to acquire Greenland hasn’t been all bad news for the island. Tourism is booming.
Greenland’s government has been trying for years to boost tourism as a way of weaning the economy off its overreliance on fishing. Mr. Trump has proven to be an unwitting ally.
Ever since he loudly insisted on buying Greenland a year ago and then ratcheted up his rhetoric last month with threats of an invasion, there’s been a surge of interest in the island, which is a self-governing territory of Denmark.
Canada now has a consulate in Nuuk, one of only a handful on the island.
The American consulate in Nuuk has been busier than usual recently as politicians come and go from Greenland’s capital, trying to arrange a U.S. takeover of the island.
“The whole world knows now where Greenland is, and before nobody knew,” said Lars Anker-Moller, who runs Arctic Dream, a company that organizes boat tours, hiking trips and dog-sled excursions in eastern Greenland. His bookings were up nearly 60 per cent last summer.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve been in the business for 15 years, and 2025 was just crazy. We went on having guests all the way to December, and that’s not normal. Normally, we just end in October.”
Mr. Anker-Moller equated the situation to what happened in Iceland after the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in 2010. The eruption spewed ash high into the atmosphere and caused travel chaos for weeks as airlines stopped flying over much of Northern Europe for fear of ruining jet engines. Despite the mayhem, the global attention led to a huge increase in tourism for Iceland that is still going strong today.
“I think some of the same will happen here. We have got a lot of free advertising of Greenland,” Mr. Anker-Moller said.
There are signs that’s already under way.
A report by Statistics Greenland concluded that there was significant growth in international interest and bookings last year. “Most actors report full programs, more inquiries from new markets and increasing demand for longer, deeper and more sustainable experiences,” the report said.
Nearly 80 per cent of the 61 tour operators surveyed by the agency said 2025 was “very good” or “good.” Almost 20 per cent said their reservations climbed more than 50 per cent last summer compared with 2024. Hotels also saw a 46-per-cent increase in the number of foreign guests last year, most of them Americans.
The opening of a new airport in Nuuk at the end of 2024 certainly helped. Seasonal flights now come in from New York, and there’s year-round service to Copenhagen and Reykjavík. Airport officials are hoping to add more European cities to the summer schedule.
The National Tourist Board has also sought to capitalize on the current attention with a clever marketing campaign called “Shhhh…” that promotes Greenland as a “rare sanctuary in a world full of noise.”
There were concerns earlier this year that the tourism boom could go bust when Mr. Trump raised the prospect of invading the island. Bookings ground to a halt, and some travellers cancelled reservations.
Helen Danielsen, tending to the horses at her riding business in Nuuk, says she's not worried about the Trump drama's impact on reservations.
“I think we were all very worried a few weeks ago because the atmosphere felt kind of aggressive,” said Helen Danielsen, who co-owns a horse-riding centre in Nuuk called Visik and rents out a flat on Airbnb. Her flat was fully booked last year from April to November. Reservations haven’t kept the same pace this year, but they picked up after Mr. Trump ruled out military action.
“I think people are just waiting. But I’m not worried. We’re used to people being kind of spontaneous,” she said. The riding centre caters mainly to local children, but more tourists have also been signing up for trail rides, she added.
Justin Stonkus, who lives in Halfmoon Bay, B.C., had always thought of visiting Greenland, but Mr. Trump’s tirades convinced him to finally take the plunge. “There was a bit of urgency with all the geopolitical nonsense,” he said while enjoying a beer in a Nuuk pub last week. Mr. Stonkus spent nine days on the island, visiting Nuuk and Ilulissat, where he toured a fjord by boat. “It exceeded my expectations,” he said, showing photos of giant icebergs he saw up close.
The growth in tourism hasn’t come without challenges. A lack of hotel rooms and poor transportation links make it hard for some operators to expand. And Greenland is not a cheap holiday. A return flight from Nuuk to Ilulissat, which takes 90 minutes, costs about $1,000, and a one-hour boat tour from Nuuk can set a visitor back $600.
“We have 56,000 people living on what’s equivalent to one-third of the United States. So you’re limited by the infrastructure,” said Casper Frank Moller, 28, who started an adventure tour company called Raw Arctic 18 months ago with a couple of partners. Raw Arctic runs boat tours, hunting and fishing trips and snowmobile excursions, working with other operators to promote their packages. The company recently partnered with a group that has opened a half-dozen cabins roughly 30 minutes from Nuuk by boat. The cabins feature saunas and spectacular views of the fjord.
Casper Frank Moller smiles and unmoors a boat of tourists for a tour across the fjord.
Last summer, Mr. Frank Moller could barely keep up with demand, and bookings remain strong this winter. After a recent one-hour boat tour around Nuuk, he was fielding a call for a trip the next evening for nine people. “We kind of try to just use the current situation to our benefit,” he explained.
But he is concerned that the sudden influx of travellers could swamp Greenland. “It’s really important that the entire Greenland economy benefits from this increased exposure,” he said. “By really focusing on quality over quantity, then we can make sure that we take the development in a pace where everybody can follow along.”
Lars Christiansen, who lives in Copenhagen, said Danes have also begun discovering Greenland after largely ignoring it for decades. “I think some Danish people are more curious,” he said after stepping off a Raw Arctic boat tour. “Everybody I talk with, they want to go here. I don’t like Trump, but I think he has helped Greenland.”
On the ground in Greenland: More from The Globe and Mail
Reports from Paul Waldie
Warming temperatures sow uncertainty for hunters and tour operators
For biathletes, Olympic racing suits pay homage to a threatened homeland
U.S. relations improving but Greenland crisis not over: Denmark minister
Video: Canada’s new consulate in Nuuk
The Globe’s Paul Waldie, reporting on the official debut of a Canadian consulate in Nuuk, shares his observations on what the rare diplomatic gesture means in the geopolitics of the Trump era.
The Globe and Mail