News archive

Cruise tourism is growing all over the world and Greenland is no exception. On the contrary, 2006 appears to follow the positive trends of previous years when the growth in numbers of cruise tourists and ships has risen year by year.
Although the final passenger figures are still unknown, the number of calls is around 145 (substantially more than last year), while the number of ships is roughly the same.
In 2005, 25 cruise ships made 115 calls at Greenland's ports. They contributed a total of DKK 4.9 million in passenger duties to Greenland's treasury. In addition, the individual ports of call received substantial earnings from excursions, entertainment, souvenirs, etc.
The entire 2006 call list is available at http://www.gt.gl/Krydstogt/.

Further details: Business Consultant Anders Ullrich la Cour Vahl: +299 34 28 31, e-mail: anders@greenland.com.

Greenland was once again represented when the Scandinavian Tourist Board invited its members to trade fairs and workshops in the three major Japanese cities of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya in September. Greenland was represented by Arctic Adventure, Air Greenland and GTBC, who have been cultivating the Japanese market for several years.
"Nowadays, most Japanese tourists spend their holidays in either Hawaii or China, but the demand for unique experiences at alternative destinations is rising," states Niels Feerup, Marketing Director for GTBC. He was favourably impressed by the knowledge of Greenland manifested by Japanese participants at the World Travel Fair events in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.
"Many of the Japanese exhibitors and fair visitors I met were quite familiar with Greenland. They know about the Inuit, Northmen settlements and Greenland's federation with Denmark and the Faroe Islands, and I was clearly impressed by how much there is to build on," Feerup emphasises.
"Lots of Japanese tourists already come to Greenland in the winter to see the northern lights in Kangerlussuaq. Fortunately, trends show an increasing tendency to come in the summer and also to visit other destinations like Disko Bay and South Greenland. Many also make a side trip to Greenland when they're in Copenhagen, spending one or two nights in Greenland. Our job from now on is to encourage more Japanese tourists to venture further into the country and, in general, to get even more Japanese travel agencies to include trips to Greenland in their product range or on their website."

Further details: Marketing Director Niels Feerup, GTBC, tel.: +45 3283 3885, e-mail: niels@greenland.com.

Many Swedes over the age of 45 living in Southern Sweden want to travel to Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. For this reason, GTBC is currently carrying out a joint West Nordic marketing campaign - together with the tourism councils of Iceland and the Faroe Islands - in Southern Sweden. The campaign aims to promote the sale of package holidays in the upcoming winter and spring seasons.
The advertising includes an eight-page insert in Sweden's weekly newspaper Ica Kuriren. The newspaper reaches roughly 400,000 (14 pct) of the target group (aged 50 and over, i.e. 2.8 million people).
Greenland and the Faroe Islands are relatively unknown destinations on this market, so the primary purpose of the insert is to inspire and generate interest in the West Nordic countries as travel destinations.
In subsequent issues of Ica Kuriren, the insert will be followed up by three full-page ads offering specific package holidays. In addition, package holidays to each of the three West Nordic countries will be offered to members of Ica Kuriren reader's club.
The campaign was launched in late September and will run until early November. It has already led to quite a few queries from prospective customers seeking more specific information on holidays in Greenland.

Further details: Marketing Coordinator Ella Grødem, GTBC Copenhagen, tel.: +45 3283 3884, e-mail: ella@greenland.com.

Danish chef Claus Meyer was in Greenland from 10-16 October to shoot episodes of "New Scandinavian Cooking", a TV travel programme. As host and chef, he takes viewers on a sensory trip to Ilulissat and Kangerlussuaq. The Ilulissat menu consists of halibut served with leeks in capers vinaigrette and a snowcrab croquette, while musk ox tartare served with puréed garden turnips, dried crowberries and egg yolks are a must for the Kangerlussuaq menu, as the latter area is known for its large herds of musk oxen. He also talks about Greenland potatoes and making drinks from sixty-thousand-year-old inland ice.
As culinary heritage is about far more than just ingredients and flavours, and an important part of a country's cultural history, the programme also deals with many other topics. Claus Meyer visits a glacier, talks with Ono Fleischer about polar explorers, expeditions and marine animals, and sheds light on the ice fjord, the aurora borealis, nature and the inland ice.
The programme from Greenland is one of thirteen showing what Denmark and Greenland have to offer. The first programmes will be aired in January 2007, with viewers in 58 different countries. This means that New Scandinavian Cooking will have one of the highest viewer ratings of television programmes in the cooking and travel category.
Greenland Tourism and Business Council has supported the project in various ways, together with its other partners in Greenland's branding group - Greenland Home Rule, Air Greenland, KNI and Royal Greenland.

Further details: more background material and project details are available at http://www.scandcook.com/

Everyone knows that Santa lives in Greenland but could you also be lucky enough to meet him? Greenland Travel is launching a trip to the land of Santa Claus on 28-30 November when children, parents and grandparents launch the Santa Claus season. The travel agency has put together a three-day programme based in Kangerlussuaq. Outdoor and indoor adventures await the participants, and amusing, exciting surprises are included in the programme. Obviously we will not reveal them here, because Christmas is a season of magic, fantasy and surprises…
Greenland Travel also offers a number of other off-season products, including an extended five-day weekend at the edge of the inland ice cap from DKK 4,995.00 per person. Musk oxen, caribou, arctic foxes, northern lights, and a visit to the inland ice cap are included in the October and November trips.

Further details about Greenland Travel's off-season products are available at http://www.greenland-travel.dk/.

Greenland Travel's 68-page 2007 catalogue is now available in a printed version and a brand-new virtual edition. The new online catalogue on the agency's website enables potential Greenland tourists to browse or search for offers, zoom in and out, and print or e-mail certain pages. This user-friendly virtual catalogue makes it much easier and faster to find just the information you're looking for.
The catalogue's contents also feature many new items. Cruise holidays on board Hurtigruten Greenland's new luxury ship FRAM, ship expeditions between Nuuk and Ilulissat on the M/V Aleksey Maryshev and horseback-riding holidays in South Greenland.
In general, the agency has turbocharged its 2007 activities. Two publications are currently being printed: a new English brochure targeting US tourists and the new Baltimore route and a brochure entitled "Adventures in Greenland" targeting the British market. And for six weeks in October and November, Greenland Travel and Hurtigruten Greenland will carry out a joint indoor and outdoor advertising campaign, e.g. inside Copenhagen buses and trains, and on sign ads in Ålborg, Århus and Copenhagen. Expectations are running high for the 2007 season and many trips have already been booked. According to Marketing Manager Jesper Kunuk Egede, the agency is looking forward to an excellent 2007 season.

Further details: Marketing Manager Jesper Kunuk Egede, Greenland Travel, tel.: +45 3313 1011 , e-mail: jke@grb.dk

The New Year bells will have barely stopped ringing when an American couple will be winging their way to a winter holiday in Ilulissat, according to Mogens Gislinge, Grønlandseksperten, who will be sending the couple on a trip to Ilulissat as early as 2 January. Over the first few days of the new year, they will ride a dog sledge, go sightseeing by helicopter and, after a stay in Kangerlussuaq and a visit to the inland ice cap, the couple will fly back to the US via Copenhagen.
"We're seeing more and more people who want to visit Greenland in the off season. That's also why we're developing new products, such as the holding of office Christmas parties in Greenland in the period from mid-October to late November." The Christmas luncheon itself is served at Restaurant Roklubben in Kangerlussuaq. The party guests spend the night at the Old Camp youth hostel and, in addition to Greenland Christmas specialities, the calendar of events includes a musk oxen safari, a trip to the inland ice cap in specially built vehicles, bowling and more.

Further details: Mogens Gislinge, Grønlandseksperten, tel. +45 26 33 00 66, mogens@groenlandeksperten.dk

Destination East Greenland
More and more tourists have their eye on north-east Greenland. The region is exotic, unspoilt and unique. Yet even if these words can be used to describe other parts of Greenland, north-east Greenland is truly in a class of its own. The region has its own time zone and cannot be described properly without launching into superlatives: it has the world's largest collection of fjords, the longest fjord in the world, the largest national park in the world and the highest mountain in the Arctic Region: Gunnbjørns Fjeld (3,694 metres). The Municipality of Ittoqqortoormiit is larger than England and, due to the fact that it has a mere 600 inhabitants and its remote location, your chances of running into your next door neighbour are slim.
A new 32-page brochure about the area has been published by Nanu Travel, an active local stakeholder headed by Martin Munck, an outfitter and former member of the Sirius Sledge Patrol. The agency's website also provides excellent insight into the adventuring options that include skiing and sledge trips, big-game hunts and boat trips. The site also provides an interesting personal account of his visit to the area as told by former alpine Olympics medallist Felix Belcyzk, Canada.

Further details: http://www.nanu-travel.com/ and http://www.eastgreenland.com/.

Destination East Greenland

Destination Disko
If all goes as planned, Hotel Hvide Falk will be ready to open a five-storey hotel tower by Whitsun 2007. The tower houses 35 new rooms, a penthouse suite, and the new conference centre with a hall and eight plenary rooms that will be able to accommodate 165 meeting participants. The expansion brings Hotel Hvide Falk's total capacity up to 203 beds. According to Director Erling Munkholm, a conference centre has been in demand for a long time.
The hotel tower is being built as part of the hotel and will house conference facilities on the ground floor. An enormous effort has been made to provide the most up-to-date facilities for the hotel's guests, and one floor will be allocated to rooms designed to accommodate disabled persons. The luxury penthouse suite is 130 m² and is furnished in authentic Louis Seize style with a canopy bed and other antiques supplemented with a jacuzzi and a sizeable balcony. Another aim of the building project is to double the size of the restaurant.
All the rooms at Hotel Hvide Falk have been renovated in recent years and furnished with flatscreens at the same time.

Further details: Director Erling Munkholm, Hotel Hvide Falk, tel. + 299 94 33 43, www.greenland-guide.gl/hvidefalk

Destination Disko
Hotel Arctic is continuing its qualitative and quantitative preparations in the competition to attract the tourists of the future. The hotel will be offering a total of 184 beds in 87 rooms and 5 igloo chalets for the 2008 season. The hotel's owner, Air Greenland, approved the expansion plans in August, that include a new 33-room wing and a new conference centre. The rooms will all be of high international calibre and overlook Isbanken, Disko Bay and the village of Ilulissat and be spread across three storeys, in continuation of the Kayak wing, opened by Hotel Arctic in 2000.
The new meeting and conference section will be ready in January 2009 and will be able to accommodate 130 participants. It will be furnished to meet current and future requirements for educational meetings. The conference centre will also afford a view of Isbanken.
The expansion represents a striking boost in quality that will also enable the hotel to exploit the opportunities provided by the opening of the new route to the US:

Further details: Managing Director Erik Bjerregaard, Hotel Arctic, tel.: +299 94 41 53, e-mail: bjerregaard@hotel-arctic.gl

Destination South Greenland
During the course of the summer, more than two thousand tourists have listened to stories about Tjodhilde, Erik the Red and other brave Northmen in the small settlement of Qassiarsuk, South Greenland. The village celebrated the millenary of Leif Eriksson's discovery of America by reconstructing Erik the Red's longhouse and Tjodhilde's Church, which were the setting for vivid historical accounts told by a number of women from South Greenland throughout the summer.
"It was an enormous success, and we've had very positive feedback. Tourists know a lot about the Northmen era already, but we added an extra dimension by retelling the saga and making it come alive. We also organised singing games and made sure to involve the tourists in various ways," says Edda Lyberth who, together with an Icelandic storyteller, the assistant curator of the local museum, the destination manager and other active women from the community, was responsible for making history come alive.
"We're a group of rebellious women who want to demonstrate that we can present fine events for tourists and everything has been launched at our own expense and on our own initiative." Edda Lyberth is also the lessee of Café Brattahlid which serves food based solely on Greenland traditions and produce.
"And this year, particularly large schools of fish are in the fjord, and we pick the flowers, herbs, berries and lettuce just beyond our doorstep," Lyberth says.

Greenland Tourism and Business Council has received several queries regarding current angling rules. Detailed information about national regulations is available at www.greenland.com, www.gt.gl and the Greenland Home Rule's website www.nanoq.gl. It is important to emphasise, however, that municipalities also have rules which must be obeyed, such as trout fishing in rivers. So please contact the municipality or local tourist information office in question for information on the municipal rules.

Further details: Ministry of Industry, Agriculture and Labour, tel. +299 34 50 00, mail: ip@gh.gl

MICE
Business is booming for the Nordic Adventure event and travel agency, which is currently reaping many of the fruits of the agency's efforts during its early years at countless trade fairs and exhibitions. A new staff member, Sales Coordinator Bitten Lund Henriksen, was recently engaged, bringing the agency's staff up to four people who tailor events and trips to Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
The agency often takes alternative approaches to customer contacts and meeting presentations, but Director Lene Mortensen notes that, in general, a growing number of companies are interested in making use of what Greenland has to offer. A new initiative of the agency is to join forces with Event Magasinet to organise a four-day research trip to Greenland for event organisers. The trip is scheduled for February and will enable the organisers to see for themselves how to make use of Greenland and to see the range of experiences and new settings with which they can complement their current programmes.

Further details: Director Lene Mortensen, Nordic Adventure, tel. +45 33 32 04 27, e-mail: lene@nordic-adventure.dk, http://www.nordic-adventure.dk/.