Visit Greenland is introducing “Adventure Travel in Greenland”, a new online publication about the practical implementation of adventure travel principles in Greenland, in an effort to create a stronger knowledge platform for the growth of tourism in the region.
The publication is based on the foundational work of the Adventure Travel Trade Association and UNWTO, and is written as a series of articles aimed at domestic industry professionals and market-relevant operators selling and operating tours to Greenland.
“We felt there was a need to contextualize and expand upon the notion of what adventure is in Greenland, and how it can be expressed both in theory and practice”, says Anders Stenbakken, CEO of Visit Greenland. “So we built on the work of the ATTA and combined it with a number of Greenlandic case studies to create an updated vision for our tourism industry and its partners around the world. The series of adventure perspectives is both an inspirational, educational and practical implementation tool for our stakeholders and partners, actually for anyone interested in current tourism trends in Greenland, and our goal is to keep developing it as the adventure industry around us develops.”
Adventure has a unique expression in Greenland, and this is part of the scope of what the publication seeks to communicate, while also aiming at educating local tour providers and industry partners about basic principles of different adventure travel aspects.
The work presented in the “Adventure Travel in Greenland” publication is tied to a long-term market development initiative in Greenland aimed at helping the wider experience economy sector adapt to adventure travel values and practices. Furthermore, a part of this work is reflected in Visit Greenland’s recent participation in an AdventureEDU event in Iceland and a commitment to help more local stakeholders become members of the Adventure Travel Trade Association network.
“Adventure travel practices in Greenland comes natural to the way I work with nature, culture, and active backcountry experiences”, says Jens-Pavia Brandt from the Kangerlussuaq-based company Greenland Outdoors. “But we need a wider adoption of adventure practices throughout the country in order for us to become an even more recognized adventure destination, and this series of articles really helps not just me but others around me understand what adventure is at its core, and how it can have a local touch in Greenland”.