The Possibilities and Limitations of Tourism Development in Greenland Impacting Self-efficiency and Socio-economic Wellbeing of Coastal Communities

Abstract

Almost all of Greenland’s population live in coastal areas. Coastal tourism in Greenland has the potential to diversify the local economy from fishing and the fish-processing industry to tourism-based entrepreneurship that possibly could reduce the gender and income inequality in Greenland and the outmigration of the younger generation from small settlements in search of opportunities in large cities, and abroad, and the revitalizaton of traditional culture. Tourism in coastal Greenland exposes the reality of climate change to visitors from the outside world, the consequences of melting ice sheets on people, nature, and the traditional way of life and could promote an alliance between the locals and visitors through honest dialogues and data collection through citizen science-based excursions. Tourism also creates an opportunity to improve and modernize local infrastructure that benefits the local population with a higher standard of living.

The negative impacts of tourism rely heavily on the lack of negotiation power of the indigenous people in Greenland against the pre-established tour operators (from Denmark) and other non-Greenlandic carriers who would receive the largest economic benefits unless strong government policy protects local interests and resources. Responsible tourism and tourists are the building block of sustainable tourism. The limitations of a short tourist season and a bottleneck situation during the high season creates investment that is risky and costly. Thus, a thorough and ongoing social-economic-environmental impact assessment would be mandatory steps in harmonizing tourist expectations and local understanding of sustainable Arctic coastal tourism in Greenland.