Rethinking connectivity in Arctic tourism development

Abstract

This paper explores tourism development in Greenland using connectivity as a prism to explore the emerging challenges and opportunities brought about by vast distances and limited and costly accessibility. We introduce the current tourism situation in Greenland in a context of broader development patterns and currents in Arctic tourism. Based on interviews, workshops and policy analysis, we point to three pressing conversations in Greenlandic tourism: governance, tourism data and capacity. Drawing on the concepts of ‘islandness’ and (dis)connectivity, we suggest that Greenland is not one, but several, only partially connected destinations. We end up arguing for a greater need for sensitivity and tailoring in tourism policy making and for future initiatives to take geographical and ‘situational’ differences into account.