A new Act on Tourism Activities in Greenland has been adopted. The Act will enter into force on 1 January 2025.

Scope of the Act (“tourism activities”)

The Act applies to “tourist activities” – i.e. offering travel experiences in Greenland primarily to tourists with a commercial purpose in the form of day trips without accommodation and trips lasting several days.

However, the Act does not cover hotel business or the provision of pure passenger transport (without elements of tourism activities).

A ‘tourist’ is any person (both foreigners and locals) who travels to a place outside its normal place of residence or domicile for pleasure, recreation or holiday purposes (in whole or in part).

Licence requirements to operate a business with tourism activities

In future, you must have a licence to operate a business with tourism activities in Greenland, unless your annual turnover does not exceed DKK 50,000. A tourism operator may be a natural person as well as a legal person.

A licence may be granted provided that the following conditions are met:

  • Natural persons: must have a registered address in and be fully liable to pay tax to Greenland, and must not be subject to insolvency proceedings.
  • Legal entities: must be a limited liability company (A/S or ApS) or a partnership (I/S) domiciled in Greenland, and must not be subject to insolvency proceedings. In addition, at least 2/3 of a limited liability company’s capital and voting rights must be owned (directly or indirectly) by a natural person who fulfils the above conditions. For partnerships, at least 2/3 of the members must fulfil the conditions.


Requirements for safety plans and insurance etc.

The application for a licence must be accompanied by a written safety plan, including a risk assessment and emergency plan, which must be available to tourists at all times in Greenlandic and English.

The risk assessment must be suitable for providing tourists with clear and comprehensive information about the main risk factors associated with the activity. When organizing an activity, the risk assessment must form the basis for the selection of employees, including tour guides, the timing of the trip, the assessment of external conditions, the choice of equipment, etc.

As a general rule, tourist activities must be covered by insurance or security.


Exemption

In special cases, Naalakkersuisut may grant exemptions from the requirements for obtaining a licence and from the provisions on safety plans and insurance etc. Exemptions can be granted for 2 years and extended for up to 2 years at a time.

 

Transition rules

The Act enters into force on 1 January 2025. However, the Act does not apply until 1 January 2027 to tourism activities lawfully carried out immediately prior the entry into force of the Act.

* * *

As stated in the explanatory notes, the new requirements mean that existing tourism operators may have to reconsider and change their ownership and control structure to fulfil the new requirements.

In future, there will also be an increased need in the tourism industry for agreements on various ownership structures and joint ventures, as well as ownership agreements and co-operation agreements.

For questions and clarification, please contact partner, attorney Helen Kibsgaard (hk@nuna-law.gl) or partner, attorney Thor Suhr (ts@nuna-law.gl).