Being online off the beaten track: Rhythms of connectivity and user-generated content in the marketing of Greenland

In recent years and in the light of climate changes, many destinations in the Arctic parts of Europe have been successful in capitalizing on an increased interest in polar tourism. Leading up to the COVID-19 crisis, visitor numbers remained modest in Greenland, a self-ruled Arctic nation under the Danish Commonwealth. However, as the nation’s tourism rebuild coincides with the opening of two new international airports in 2023, visitor numbers are expected to rise higher than ever before. Successful marketing, combined with a rising global focus on the Arctic, has led to a growing volume of tourists and a corresponding rise in political and societal interest in tourism. Already today, tourism is viewed as one of Greenland’s three economic pillars, next to the dominant fishing industry and mining. Also, it is perceived by many as a promising lever for the Arctic nation’s future economic development (Bjørst and Ren, 2015).
The tourism offerings in Greenland are predominantly adventure tourism and similar to other Arctic destinations, the experiential core is rested, as argued by Lee et al. (2017) in “a context of geographical peripherality” (p.1). In other words, in being and feeling as a tourism experience truly off the beaten track. As an Arctic destination heavily affected by climate change, Greenland has witnessed increasing interest from a global public, something that is believed to have helped bring the destination closer in the mind of potential visitors. The destination has also received unexpected media attention and exposure as a result of growing geo-political interest in the Arctic: for instance, when US president Trump proposed to buy the island in 2019. The national DMO, Visit Greenland, has been quick to make the most of this global access and the general rising interest on social media.
In securing continued growth, efficient marketing of the destination has been identified by Visit Greenland as essential. Visit Greenland markets its products and experiences around the ‘big Arctic five’: dogsledding, whale watching, Northern Lights, ice/snow, and the nation’s pioneering people. In combination with sailing, hiking, fishing and hunting, as well as cultural offerings, such as kaffemik coffee parties in private homes and visits to handicraft workshops, these comprise the products offered to the nearly 100,000 people who visit Greenland annually (Statistics Greenland, 2019).
To better understand how Visit Greenland works in marketing Greenland as a tourist destination, the case of social media influencers is explored. To do so, a review of the social media marketing literature is provided which zooms in on social media marketing, tourism and social media influencers in tourism. Encapsulation and decapsulation is introduced as an analytical tool to explore the study’s material and presented in the following analysis. After a short introduction to our methodology and case, empirical material from interviews with professional social media influencers sponsored by the DMO to promote the destination is used to show how users negotiate online presence and social media content during their travels in Greenland. In conclusion, the trade-offs and balancing acts of being ‘online’ and ‘off the beaten track’ are discussed, seeing them as equally important but at times hard to reconcile.