‘See It Before It’s Too Late’: How the Travel Industry Uses Climate FOMO to Market Far-Flung Destinations
After a two hour flight to Greenland, we touched down in Kulusuk and coptered to Angmagssalik, a town of about 2,000 on a fjord of the same name. From there, we traveled a little more than an hour by boat through Ikasartivaq Fjord to a basecamp in the remote wilderness operated by NatHab—which is partnered with WWF with the goal of achieving net-zero travel.
With a land mass roughly a quarter the size of the US and a population of only 60,000, Greenland remains a mostly untouched tundra refuge. But tourist numbers are expected to grow with the addition of new airports in Nuuk, the country’s capital, Ilulissat and Qaqortoq. Greenland’s tourist trade is approximately where Iceland’s was a decade ago. From 2010 to 2018 Iceland’s numbers jumped from 460,000 to over 2 million, yet conservation remains a top priority.
Trips like the one to Greenland, or circumnavigating Iceland on a Lindblad-NatGeo cruise , inspires tourists to give to conservationist organizations by exposing them to natural wonders and hosting specialists for nightly talks on the issues. Ecoventura, operating in the Galapagos Islands, includes an Environmental Management Plan that ensures against invasive species populating the islands. Waste is sent to certified recycling facilities on the mainland and wastewater is treated in black treatment plants, recycling it into reusable gray water.