Sustainable Arctic Cruise Communities: Nuuk Case Report

Practical arrangements for cruise ships are made by Sikuki and port agents – Blue Water, Royal Arctic Line. The port agents are in contact with cruise lines and organise provisioning and other services, while tour operators such as Greenland Escape, Greenland Cruise, Tupilak Travel and Guide to Greenland run shuttle buses into the town centre, arrange tours, activities and cruises on smaller vessels in Nuuk fjord. Due to limited capacity, cruise ships are advised not to offload waste in Nuuk, but they can rent waste containers through their shipping agent. It is expensive to provision in Greenland as most goods and foodstuffs are imported.   

Nuuk is one of only two harbours in Greenland where bigger cruises can berth, which means that passengers can more easily come ashore and, if they wish, can return to the ship more than once during the day. Prior to the arrival of a cruise ship, fencing is set up around the quay and the area is secured with a guard.  

Cruise season stretches from June, July, August to the first half of September. In 2022, approximately 50 ships called at Nuuk and during this period there is competition for space at the quays. This makes the coordination of different vessels in and around the harbour one of the most important – and challenging - practices. All stakeholders agree that cruise tourism is close to or has reached the limit in relation to the number of cruise ships that can be accommodated. However, more than 70 ships are already expected for 2023.  

There is no central coordination or selection of cruise ships and they are booked via a ‘first come, first served’ principle. Trawlers are, however, prioritised because they represent year-round business that is economically critical. So even though the number of cruise calls has grown substantially, they are less important economically to the harbour than container ships and trawlers.  

Sikuki is ultimately responsible for how many cruise ships that dock, and it also operates a booking system. Quay places are blocked out in the booking system so that there is always space for them to dock and offload fish and seafood, etc. Cruise ships tend to book places well in advance (often 2 years), while fishing and cargo vessels operate with much shorter notice and this system ensures that there is always space for them. However, even though cruise ship calls are planned years in advance, they are still subject to change or cancellation at short notice due to weather conditions or changes to the itinerary during the voyage, with knock-on effects to the planning and activities of other stakeholders, notably the tour operators, as described in Section 3. 

In contrast to most other ports of call in Greenland, berthing along the quay allows more tourists to come ashore. In many other destinations, Zodiac or fender boats are used to sail the cruise guests to shore, often resulting in queues and bottlenecks. With berthing, guests to Nuuk can much quicker get off and onboard.   

A number of different organisations are involved in planning and preparing for cruise visits. As described above, Sikuki has responsibility for the harbour facilities and infrastructure required for cruise ships to dock, refuel, take on provisions, etc. In addition, they are responsible for the tourist facilities at the harbour, including the information centre. Sikuki also maintains the pontoon in the colonial harbour from which smaller tourist boats sail. They collaborate closely with the port agents (usually Blue Water or Royal Greenland) who negotiate and book quay places, ensure paperwork and fees are paid, and organise the various services required by the cruise vessels. Finally, the tour operators plan and schedule tours and activities for cruise tourists and organise the shuttle buses that transport them from the ship to the town centre. The main operators in Nuuk are Greenland Cruise, Tupilak Travel, Guide to Greenland, and Greenland Escape (which also acts as a port agent). Tour operators hire individual providers and, in some cases, provide the experiences themselves. The most popular products for cruise tourists visiting for the day are experiences that can easily be scaled-up. They include town walks including visits to Katuaq, Greenland’s cultural centre and to art and history museums, kaffemiks and boat tours, kayaking or SUP trips in the Nuup Kangerlua fjord, the second largest fjord system in the world. To access the experiences in town (guided tours, kaffemiks, museum visits), tourists are transported from the harbour into the city centre in tour buses, a brief drive (5-10 minutes) from the harbour.    

Cruise tourism stakeholders coordinate and collaborate in different ways, both through formal and informal networks with each other, but also with stakeholders that are mainly responsible for other practices (port practices, local business development practices, cultural practices, etc.). All the cruise tourism stakeholders in Nuuk hold a meeting before the cruise season begins to discuss any potential problems and improvements that could be made. One example is that guides were suffering from overheating in the visitor centre and requested that the harbour installed sun film on the windows.   

There is also collaboration taking place within the Nuuk Maritime Network. However, an issue with this type of collaboration is the small size of many operators, which make representation in the network difficult in comparison with other much larger companies. For this reason, the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO) serves to represent many smaller companies and their interests, as explained here: "it’s obvious to use AECO if you want to work further on what is it that we can actually sell and deliver to the cruise industry. It is really important that they participate, because AECO also has the capacity to participate in such network meetings. The small tourism companies are so tied up in their own operations that they find it difficult to prioritize something like this. So their voice is quickly stifled by the fact that they - they can't just take a whole day off, like you can in a large multibillion-dollar group like Royal Greenland, to go to a conference. Because then no one is sailing the boat.’  

Cruise tourism is an important activity for tour operators, one of whom noted that one ship can bring as many bookings as a whole month of land-based tourists. Tour operators sometimes run their own walking or car tours, but largely collaborate with others – especially charter boat firms – to arrange tours. There are many different types of tourism experiences ranging from hiking, cultural events, kaffemik, bus tours, food experiences such as cooking over an open fire, beer brewing and local gastronomy.  

In addition to land-based experiences, many tourists also book short boat tours around Nuuk fjord or longer trips to local islands.  When large cruise ships are in port, this can be a very busy and industrial-like operation, where all available local boats are chartered by the tourism operators. This is a very important business for local operators, but some stakeholders feel that it has the character of mass-tourism and can be very chaotic; for example, if a whale is spotted in the fjord and eight and ten tourism boats try to get close to it. While most tourists book a tour via the cruise line, it is also possible to book more expensive tailor-made tours directly with providers.   

Some shops in the town centre have made special arrangements with the cruise ships or the guides to promote their business, offering discounts and opening earlier or later to accommodate cruise calls. Katuaq, the Greenlandic cultural centre, has also developed a specific event tailored for cruise passengers.  

As a cross-cutting theme ranging from large infrastructure projects such as expansion of harbour to ‘micro-infrastructure’ such as garbage bins, signage and walking paths in the town centre, infrastructure is a major issue and of great importance to secure a smooth execution of cruise tourism activities, especially in smaller places. Nuuk is the largest harbour and town and as described already, major crowding due to cruise tourism is not perceived as a great problem (yet), probably due to the physical lay-out of the town away from the harbour and the relative size of Nuuk, that allow of a certain ‘soaking up’ cruise tourists.  The harbour collaborates with the municipality which has responsibility for infrastructure outside the harbour area. There have for example been discussions about how to improve access to and from the harbour for pedestrians.   

Signage all over Nuuk is perceived by many of the interviewees as not user-friendly. This is not a cruise-only issue, as signage has been mentioned for many years as an issue for tourists in Nuuk. Increasing cruise tourism (and generally more tourism) may however become an occasion to improve the situation, also benefiting residents and especially newcomers, that may not all know their way around the town as it continues to expand. Better signage on trails, that are also continually being developed may also contribute to better access to the outdoors, as paths are currently inaccessible if not on a tour or having prior knowledge of the destination.    

There are currently plans to expand the harbour further in order to accommodate larger trawler, increase the warehousing space and offload containers more efficiently. As cruise tourism is expected to increase as a consequence of the new direct airport to Nuuk and the general rising interest in Arctic (cruise) tourism, question is how cruise tourism will be able to co-exist with current harbour activities, being cargo shipping and most importantly, fisheries, that is currently given priority. Currently, industrial needs take prior over cruise ships as cruise tourism only takes place a few months of the year, whereas fishing is a year-round activity.    

Cruise tourism in Nuuk is growing and set to change because of the new airport, but still many perceive a lack of preparedness, as mentioned by this municipality representative:

So while the capacity right now is beyond or at level, a future increase in numbers and length of stay will create new pressure on all types of local infrastructure: from hotel rooms, to waste, to trails, etc. This is an extremely important issue in relation to the prospects for Nuuk as a turn-around port (where cruise passengers begin or end a cruise). At present, cruise ships arrive and as on interviewee noted ‘it doesn’t require big investment in hotels and all kinds of things. They use the facilities that are already here…they bring income without the requirement of investment in advance’.  

In our conversation with operators, there appeared to be few problems employing guides in Nuuk. Because it is the capital and largest town in Greenland, it also has a larger pool of workers. In the summertime, staff is recruited among students from the university or other educational institutions, from other parts of the coast or from abroad. Some interviewees emphasised that it was easier to find Greenlandic employees in Nuuk and this is seen as an important aspect of the social sustainability of cruise tourism. The use of local work force is often addressed in public and social media as a major concern as tourism is expected to grow. However, those who had worked as guides also noted that wages were not very high and that there are sometimes challenges with retaining staff. Guides are not necessarily professionally trained. They are often local students who are trained on the job.  

Although cruise tourism takes place only during the summer, there are boat trips and other tours also during the winter months. This year-round tourism in Nuuk caters for instance to land-based tourists and conference attendees. Despite this, we do see mention of a loss of staff during off-season, also because not all positions are full-time, and employees seek elsewhere in a job market with very high employment. As one tour operator describes:

This problem has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic when there were no cruise calls at all for two years and guides have found other jobs.  

Successful cruise calls do not only rely on the skills and competences of local stakeholders but also the crew of the cruise ships. This was sometimes a cause of frustration among tour operators who felt that their local knowledge of the best and most efficient way to organise tours and move passengers from the ship to tour busses was ignored. Again, COVID-19 has had an impact because as cruise tourism starts up again, there are many new crews onboard the ships who have not visited Nuuk before.  

Cruise tourism is by some stakeholders seen as an opportunity to develop cultural products and experiences, but this requires knowledge of tourists’ motivations and interests, as well as how to package experiences to fit with the short cruise visits. One provider of cultural experiences describes it thus : ‘Visit Greenland say that people who travel to Greenland (…) want something with nature and some culture. So, what I ask is: 'well, what kind of culture? What do they have in mind?'. It can be hard for us to know exactly (…). How long have they been gone? Are they like… hard to impress because now they've been away for so long and seen so much else, or have they just arrived? And where are they from? So, there is such a… well… it's a special kind of tourism. Also, because they come in in the morning and then they leave again during the day, so they only have a few hours for something like that, and do they want to sail into the fjord, or what do they want?’  

Issues such as these make it difficult for some stakeholders to develop good and relevant products, while at the same time making sure that the product is also meaningful and fitting at their end in terms of available resources and hands, time of the week or of the year, etc.  At destination level, we see individual stakeholders experiment with new products, such as at Katuaq/Greenland’s Cultural Centre which has developed a cultural offer where cruise tourists see a presentation about Greenlandic culture, experience music and dance, and taste some Greenlandic food specialities. Some stakeholders also argued that entry barriers to cruise tourism were relatively low, and anyone could become a guide and build up a business.  

Cruise ships operating in Greenlandic waters are covered by the Polar Code, which regulates ship design and construction, safety, operations and environmental protection.  There are also laws regarding the protection of the marine environment - Landsting Act no. 29 of 2003 on the Protection of Nature and Executive order no. 8 of March 2, 2009 on protection of birds, a.o. In addition, the Greenlandic Act of Preservation of Cultural History severely forbids any kind of violation of man-made monuments such as graves, ruins, hunting structures as well as structures from recent times protected by preservation regulations. In relation to navigation, ‘Order no. 1698 on Pilotage Around Greenland‘, issued by the Danish Maritime Authority, requires passenger ships with more than 250 passengers to use a pilot when sailing within the National waters of Greenland.  

Port taxation is an important part of the governance of cruise tourism in Greenland and taxes are often mentioned in conversations about cruise tourism. Port taxation was first introduced in 1992 and was based at the time on the gross registered tonnage (GRT) of the ship. In 2002, this tax was changed to a passenger tax of 300 DKK (40 Euro) per passenger, increased to 450DKK (60 Euro) in 2006 and 525DKK (70 Euro) in 2008.  

In 2015, the tonnage tax was reinstated at a higher rate. This favoured larger ships because their weight per passenger is usually lower than smaller ships. Nuuk has recently adopted a passenger tax (in addition to tonnage tax), set at 10 DKK (1,35 euro) per passenger. At present, taxes are slightly lower than most Baltic ports and lower than Iceland. The taxation model is currently (April 2023) under review, a process which also includes discussions with a range of stakeholders, including Visit Greenland to ensure a balanced pricing, that make cruise tourism in Greenland competitive, while ensuring that it also remains ‘worth it’ for the receiving community.  

Expedition cruise ships and passengers to Nuuk are requested to follow community guidelines developed by the Association of Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO). These guidelines cover operational matters such as passenger behaviour onshore, limits on the number of cruise passengers per guide, protecting biodiversity and wildlife. Community-specific guidelines are developed in collaboration with local residents, councils and tourism operators typically through workshops facilitated by AECO and the local destination organisation (you can read more about the community guidelines and the development process here). AECO members are required to follow these guidelines, but they are voluntary for others.  The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which represents conventional cruise lines has its own set of policies covering environmental stewardship, safety and security, heath and accessibility for persons with disabilities, but these are not specific to the Arctic region.   

The Nuuk case highlights issues about power and responsibility: who holds the power or has the responsibility for limiting numbers of cruise ships or calls, who is responsible for developing and regulating cruise in the years to come.   A workshop with cruise stakeholders held in Nuuk in November 2021 made it clear that many are unaware and concerned about who decides and regulates cruise tourism, or as asked by a participant: ‘who holds that red button?’. Currently, the level of cruise tourism to Greenland is controlled by the market in the sense that port agents book slots at the harbour on behalf of cruise lines and decisions about whether, how often and for how long cruise ships call in Nuuk is not regulated. If there is room, ports have no authority to reject ships.