Making Good Tourism Official(ly Greenlandic)

Back in late 2023, as Greenland stood on the cusp of a major shift in visitor access, with new international airports nearing completion, Visit Greenland turned its focus inward. How could the country grow its tourism sector without losing sight of what makes it meaningful, safe, and sustainable? The answer was more than a label, but a nationwide effort to define and recognise “better tourism” on Greenland’s own terms and to shift the industry from voluntary commitments to structured action. Group NAO was invited to lead the early research and strategic framing, tasked with helping map the possibilities, pitfalls, and practicalities of building a national certification pathway from the ground up.

Following a series of benchmarking analyses into existing national certification programmes, Visit Greenland opted to explore a white-label scheme that is deliberately flexible – a series of progressive steps that allow tourism companies to build capacity at their own pace while aligning with a national commitment to quality, safety, and sustainability. Informed by lessons from Iceland, Norway, and Finland, but shaped for Greenland’s context, the model sets a clear and inclusive path forward. It reflects a shared ambition to ensure that as Greenland’s visitor economy grows, it does so in a way that strengthens local ownership, raises standards across the board, and amplifies the values that matter most to communities and travellers alike.