Greenland’s tourism sector is growing along with the new airport structure, with new airports in Nuuk, Ilulissat and Qaqortoq.
A new Tourism Act introduces requirements for licensing, safety plans, and insurance, designed to support sustainable tourism, as well as ownership requirements to ensure local involvement in Greenland.
Running certain tourism activities in Greenland now requires a licence, unless the total revenue generated from tourism activities does not exceed DKK 50,000 per year. However, until 1 January 2027, the Tourism Act does not apply to tourism activities lawfully carried out at the time immediately before the entry into force of the Act.
Under the Tourism Act, “tourism activities” means the offering of services primarily aimed at tourists in the form of experiences in Greenland offered as one-day or multi-day trips.
Restaurants, hotels, souvenir shops, museums, etc. will, as a starting point, be outside the scope of the Act. On the other hand, providers of sightseeing excursions, such as providers of sightseeing tours to see wild animals, hiking trips, kayaking etc., will as a starting point be covered by the Act. This also means that hotels, for example, will be covered by the Inatsisartut Act to the extent that the hotel itself offers sightseeing excursions.
Tour operators must also prepare safety plans, consisting of a risk assessment and emergency response plan available to tourists in Greenlandic and English. They must also maintain relevant insurance.
For both new and existing tourism companies, it is important to carefully consider ownership structures.
A licence may be granted only to individuals whose registered address is in Greenland, who are fully liable to tax in Greenland, and who are capable of managing their own affairs and are not subject to bankruptcy, insolvency or liquidation proceedings.
A licence may be granted to companies, if certain ownership requirements are met, among others:
If you need advice on tourism law, licensing or ownership requirements in Greenland, contact us at Nuna Law. We can guide you through the process and make sure your business meets the new requirements.
