LocalArctic: Contextualizing sustainable tourism through a local Arctic project funding program for sustainable event planning in Greenland

The Arctic Region is a popular place for tourism. Arctic tourism is increasing and a driver for development of these regions.

However, at the same time many of these regions are severely influenced by climate and environmental change. The Arctic Region is one of the places on Earth where the consequences of climate change are strongly visible. Greenland – one of the countries in the Arctic Region – has been a global symbol of climate change and follows an ambitious strategy to increase tourism. Perhaps the most impactful is the building and upgrading of three new airports in the regional cities of Ilulissat in the north, Nuuk in the center, and Qaqortoq in the south. One ambition is to transform Greenland to an attractive meetings, incentives, convention, and exhibition (MICE) -destination.

Globally, the MICE industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the tourism industry. At the same time, MICE related tourism is considered to be one of the most unsustainable tourism practices. This will raise new concerns about sustainable tourism. Previous research has shown that the sustainability potential of tourism in Greenland has not been properly addressed and contextualized.

LocalArctic addresses the need for developing novel contextualized sustainability measures by exploring the possibility of a local sustainable tourism program applied by the MICE industry for Greenland.

Secondary objectives are to:

I.identify local community projects that would be relevant and willing to participate in a sustainable Arctic tourism program (WP1)

II.investigate international conference organizers’ interest in participating in a local sustainable Arctic tourism program (WP2)

III.based on the findings from I. and II. develop a plan for a large-scale research project with involved stakeholders (WP3)

The major outcome of the work is one peer reviewed journal article with Ilisimatusarfik University and two short popular science disseminations in Greenland and Norway.