Nuuk's new airport: Gateway to growth or threat to nature?

A new international airport has opened in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, and is expected to become a key element in the island's tourism development. This investment, valued at 800 million dollars, will enable direct flights from Europe and North America, attracting more tourists.

According to the Polish Press Agency, the first plane to land on the new runway, about 2.3 kilometres long, arrived from Copenhagen, carrying officials, including Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

The new airport in Nuuk is designed to accommodate 800 people per hour. Connections to Canada and the USA are planned to be launched next year. Jens Lauridsen, the president of Greenland's Airports, emphasizes that this project is meant to increase the number of tourists and develop other sectors of the economy.

Greenland attracts visitors with its unspoiled nature. In 2023 alone, over 130,000 tourists visited. Compared to 2019, this is an increase of 46 percent. The government of Greenland aims for tourism to account for 40 percent of export value by 2035, which is currently dominated by fishing. To achieve this, it is necessary to double the number of tourists visiting the place.

Investments in tourism, however, raise concerns among experts. They point to Iceland as an example, where increased tourist numbers forced infrastructure expansion, unfortunately at the cost of nature.

Will tourism in Greenland go overboard like it did in Iceland? - asks Prof. Carina Ren from Aalborg University, as quoted by the Polish Press Agency.

Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, is becoming more accessible due to climate change and melting glaciers. The government has introduced regulations to prevent the export of tourism profits abroad, requiring that 65 percent of shares in tourism companies be owned by local residents. This is intended to ensure that the benefits of tourism development stay on the island.