Nuuk, May 2020. Greenland’s capital Nuuk is a city of vitality, surrounded by immense nature and filled with vibrant Greenlanders leading fascinating lives of old traditions, modern twists, and diverse influences. Home to gourmet restaurants, fashion boutiques, and the Northern Lights inspired Katuaq Cultural Center, Nuuk is the centre of modern Greenland. The city aims to become a global leader in sustainable and responsible tourism and have engaged EarthCheck to help guide them on their journey.
The EarthCheck Sustainable Destinations program will provide Nuuk with a scientific framework to benchmark, certify and continuously improve their environmental, cultural, social and economic performance. Most importantly EarthCheck will also help the destination to navigate its way forward in a post COVID-19 tourism and travel environment.
Emil Skjervedal, Director of Sermesooq Business said that becoming a Leading Destination of the World was an exciting opportunity for Nuuk as a destination renowned for its vibrant culture and pristine natural environment.
“We aim to create an atmosphere that attracts and sustains business, creative arts and events,” he said. “We will be working with EarthCheck and other world-leading destinations to share ideas and learn how we can more effectively address key destination challenges associated with development, planning and marketing.”
Salik Hard the project manager notes that Nuuk has a strong vision and long-term commitment to sustainability and responsible tourism development.
“Becoming Greenland’s first EarthCheck Certified Destination will add value to the way in which we market Nuuk as a lifestyle destination to visit, work, live and bring up children,” Mr Hard said. “Working with EarthCheck will help us to monitor and improve sustainability and promote our achievements, as well as learning more from the best in the world.”
EarthCheck Founder and CEO Stewart Moore noted that places where people want to visit and live – and that are sustainable – do not happen by chance: they are a product of visionary thinking and commitment by industry and community leaders.
“Achieving sustainable tourism requires collaboration, determination and systematic planning across the destination,” Mr Moore says. “Nuuk will join a select group of leading destinations across the world that are taking a holistic and strategic approach to destination management, planning and marketing.”
Based on the fundamental belief that ‘what gets measured, gets managed’ is at the core of EarthCheck’s Sustainable Destinations Program which is built on performance based measurement. The EarthCheck program helps destinations to measure and monitor their environmental economic and social impact, and prepare and track that performance against their own targets and the performance of other destinations.
