By Magnus Lund Nielsen
(EurActiv) -- Greenland’s capital is bracing for an imminent invasion of American tourists in the wake of Donald Trump's pledge to seize control of the Arctic island.
Greenland, which has been Danish territory since well before the US was even founded, landed on front pages across the globe following the US president's latest attempts (first voiced during his first term) to either “buy” or acquire the world's biggest island by other means. Both Greenlandic and Danish politicians have consistently rejected the idea (not that Trump cares).
Just how serious Trump is about taking control of the resource-rich North Atlantic island became clear earlier this month when his son, Don Jr., landed on the Nuuk airstrip in "Trump Force One" (the president's private Boeing-757) to "see everything".
By the looks of it, he will be far from the last American to fly directly from the US to Greenland in the coming months. Beginning in June, United Airlines will start operating the first direct route from New York's JFK airport to Nuuk twice a week – a move that promises to turbo-charge the US tourism on the island. In 2023, Americans accounted for only 4% of Greenland's total visitors.
Full house
Though the coming American invasion promises to boost the local economy, the bigger question on many locals' minds is whether the town of 19,000 will be able to cope with the sharp uptick in bookings.
A United Airlines spokesperson told Euractiv that ticket sales were “in line with expectations.”
Hotel Hans Egede, the country’s most prestigious hotel located in the heart of the capital (and named for the Dano-Norwegian missionary who settled Nuuk), reports that it is already nearly fully booked five months in advance.
Nuuk Water Taxi, a local enterprise offering boat trips, tells a similar story, according to local newspaper Sermitisiaq.
Like all other Greenlandic towns, Nuuk is a closed circuit. A car will not get you further than the 30 km of paved road the city has to offer. A commute to the closest neighbouring settlement requires either a boat or a flight.
Some US tourists have already booked upwards of six trips of whale safari or exploring the ice fjord nearby, Nuuk Water Taxi reports.
A better kind of tourism?
The country has seen a steady increase in tourism over the last decade, but this season is expected to mark the beginning of a new era with more air travel.
In November, Nuuk opened its new airport to international flights.
Previously, a trip to the island’s capital included a stopover in Kangerlussuaq, a former US airbase turned commercial airport located 300 km north of the capital, before changing to a smaller Dash-8 plane – the only type that could fit the old runway in Nuuk.
The new airport is a milestone in Greenland’s efforts to open itself to the world. Until recently, nearly all visitors to Greenland had to pass through Copenhagen, a city 3,500 km away from Nuuk.
Cruise control
In 2023, more than half of the country’s tourists arrived by cruise ship.
Larger cruise ships became a regular sight in the 2010s. The sudden influx forced one café by the bay to shutter its doors every time a new ship laid anchor because the number of visitors was too overwhelming.
“When the large cruise ships make landfall, the streets fill with thousands of red jackets the one day and a bunch of yellow jackets the next,” one local told Euractiv in Nuuk, referring to the colour-coded outerwear the guests are asked to put on so no one gets left behind.
Greenland's real problem with the cruise-ship visitors is that they're cheap.
An analysis from 2024 produced for the government's Visit Greenland programme showed that an average family visiting the country by plane spends around €7,700. That’s more than double the expense of a family visiting the Arctic country on a large cruise ship, which spends around €3,600.
So not only are cruise ships a hassle for the locals: by comparison, tourists travelling by air also contribute more to the local economy.
All about the Benjamins?
That's why some here welcome the coming Yankee invasion.
But in a city of around 19,000, the bar for over-tourism is low. In recent years, Nuuk has come close to reaching full capacity and will soon need new hotel beds to accommodate the growing demand.
What's more, encounters with a flurry of MAGA devotees in recent weeks has given some Greenlanders, 90% of whom have an Inuit background, second thoughts.
The spectacle of MAGA influencers handing out money and wishing the USA’s '51st state' welcome has left a mark on the local population.
While the Trumpists were gathering signatures in support of folding Greenland into the US, their efforts might have been counterproductive.
Local media reported of angry parents confiscating $100 bills from their kids.
“I don’t know what they were thinking – giving money to kids to appear in their videos?” another Nuuk resident told Euractiv the day after the influencer collective Nelk Boys’ happening in central Nuuk. “It’s nothing short of grooming.”
While Greenland embraces increased tourism as a step toward financial independence from Denmark, the citizens of Nuuk hope that visitors come to experience their country and culture – not to view it as a colony.