Details

Written by: ofurpaur

Category: Shipping

Published: 02 January 2023

Hits: 2646

Located in the North Atlantic Ocean at the Mid Atlantic Ridge, being the Nordic European country, Iceland is coming up as one of the year´s top travel European destinations. It is out of question that Iceland offers a unique pristine nature, outstanding landscapes and vibrant culture deeply rooted in ancient heritage. Affable business environment with abundance of competitively priced renewable energy and solid, modern infrastructure attracts skilled workforce and new foreign investments.

Tourism industry has become a significant part of Icelandic economy. Statistics show that it contributes to almost 5% of country's GDP what gives the amount of 73.1bn ISK from foreign travelers. According to Central Bank of Iceland, more than 75% of this figure was estimated as purchases of goods and services while 25% were purchases of passenger fares.

There are five major ports of entries, situated in the southern, northern and eastern parts of Iceland. According to the Icelandic Tourist Board, more than 500 thousand visitors arrive via Keflavik and Reykjavik airports every year with scheduled flights from all parts of Europe, Canada and United States. Close to 20 thousand tourists use direct connection through Seydisfjördur, Akureyri and Egilsstadir airports as the scheduled fares are mostly available during the summer period.

There are close to 60 thousand guests travelling to Iceland by cruise ships every year, mostly via scheduled fares during the summer period. The largest port of entry for the cruise vessels is located in Seydisfjördur but approximately 95% of those ships have a stopover in Reykjavik, some of the ships come to northern part of the country, entering the island via the port of Akureyri. The location of significant ports of entries for marine traffic could be seen on Interactive Mapping System.

According to Icelandic Statistics Office, outstanding number of visitors comes from the Nordic countries, United Kingdom, Central and South Europe and North America. Most of those people, close to 50% visit mainly Capital region, 20 % travels up north, but only 11 – 15 % visit southern, eastern or western part of Iceland.

Development of tourism industry brings challenges and opportunities for Icelandic government. Opening of new Arctic shipping routes and establishment of new hub ports will greatly influence a marine traffic to Iceland. Having a large impact on country´s economy, tourism industry gives an employment to over 10 thousand people.

It was measured that over one million visitors will come to Iceland in 2020 what. The annual increase of the foreign traffic is estimated for almost 9%. However the UN World Tourism Organization as regards the increase of travelers globally, the Icelandic Tourist Board estimate that close to 800 thousand foreigners will choose Iceland as the travel destination.

Source: Statistics Iceland  

Details

Written by: ofurpaur

Category: Shipping

Published: 02 January 2023

Hits: 3484

Faroe Islands gained the home rule from Danish Kingdom in the middle of 20^th century. Despite of its own language, flag and parliament, the Island´s international affairs and finances are governed by Denmark.

Located in the heart of the Gulf Stream, on the North Atlantic Ocean, half way between Scotland and Iceland, group of eighteen islands, nowadays attracts people from all over the world. The Faroese archipelago is 75 km wide and surrounded by over 1000 km of the coast line.

Tourism is the second largest industry of the Faroese and second country´s source of income. However the tourism industry is not the independent industry as such, but it combines all the various commerce, including transport, food and local manufacturing.

The government of Faroe Islands identifies tourism industry as a competitive and self – supporting, providing with a high level of various services, including logging and transportation. Nowadays, the government´s main concern is to develop the industry in compliance with natural environment and its resources, Faroese community and culture heritage.

The Ministry of Trade and Transport promulgates legal regulations with regards to increasing tourism traffic and natural environment. Even though, Faroe Islands together with Greenland is not a member of EU, neither EFTA, the government develops the framework for sustainable development of the industry and endeavors to improve infrastructure for transport and communications linkages with the EU and EFTA member states.

The group of islands is easily accessible as the world´s air and marine transport has been continuously more liberalized and price reduction has been noted. There is one, government owned, Faroese company which provides the transit by sea from Iceland and Denmark. It operates on regular schedule during the summer period. Despite of the increasing interest to continue the shipping operations to Faroe Island, as of last few years, no public funds were invested in the sector.

More than 80% of the foreign traffic reaches the Faroese land by the air, using the only international airport near Sørvágur on Vágar. Currently, there are three airlines operating from Vágar on regular bases. Direct connections are established with Iceland, Denmark, United Kingdom and Norway.

It is of the great importance for Faroese tourism board to establish key connections with not only northern states but also with the other countries. The initiative was taken when the bilateral agreement was established between Iceland and Faroe Islands with regards to companies ‘networking and cooperation. The Nordic Council of Ministers has been involved to focus on tourism issues in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Details

Written by: ofurpaur

Category: Shipping

Published: 02 January 2023

Hits: 5430

Greenland, being the biggest island in the world, is divided into four main regions: North Greenland from Kangaatsiaq and north to Qaanaaq, West Greenland between Sisimut and Paamiut, including the capital of Nuuk, South Greenland between Aappilattoq to Arsuk and East Greenland from Isortoq to Ittoqqortoomiit, including the Greenlandic National Park.

The Greenlandic tourism has a long history, reaching more than hundred years back to 1900 when Mylius – Erichsen´s expedition took place.

The Danish explorer came up with the idea of bringing to Greenland tourists, but the thought was rejected due to the difficult weather conditions.

However the large scale tourism had its turnover in the middle of 20^th century and became one of the largest industries in Greenland, playing significant role for the local economy, including air and sea transportation, services like logging, catering and trade with indigenous handcrafts. There is no research showing exact figures on the total economic impact of tourism on the society, however it was measured that the number of visitors increases during the Arctic short summer period to reach almost 7.000 in July and August. Outside of the peak season, the number significantly decreases, going down to less than 1.000 during December and January.

Statistics show that most of the tourists in Greenland come from Scandinavia, mainly Denmark and other northern, European countries. Most of the travelers, more than 50% visit Greenland for pleasure and holiday, almost 20 % of visitors come there with regards to business and around 30%, to visit friends and family members. It is very difficult to measure the definite purpose for the visit as very often tourists would combine various activities.

There are 13 airports in Greenland and those can be seen in the Interactive Mapping System. International ports of entries are located in Kangerlussuaq or Narsarsuaq, but some international traffic, mainly from Iceland, is also directed to Kulusuk and Nuuk. Passengers and cargo loads are serviced by Mittarfeqarfiit, the Greenlandic Airport Authority, which is owned by the Government of Greenland. In addition to domestic airports and international ports of entries, there are six heliports and around forty helistops located all around the Islands. Heliports located in the most remote settlements can provide with the air traffic operations during difficult winter weather conditions.

There are sixteen sea ports around the Greenlandic coast. All of them can be seen in our interactive database. There are close to 250 harbours, surrounding Greenlandic coast, both fishing and piers with pontoon and mooring facilities.

The largest harbours are located in the capital city – Nuuk, Sisimiut and Aasiaat. All together, they handle close to one million cubic metres of cargo annually which is close to 70 % of total cargo coming to Greenland. Passengers and cruises can be serviced only by Nuuk, Sisimiut and Ilulissat harbours. The port in Nuuk is the biggest and more than 50 % of all passengers cruise traffic is serviced right there.

The road infrastructure in Greenland consists of approximately 120 km of the asphalt network and could be mainly found in the capital city – Nuuk. Some of the gravel roads, connecting the farms around the southern part of the country can be found but otherwise, there are no roads to connect towns.

The crossdisciplinary approach to current tourism activity is nowadays the main concern for the government of Greenland. The increasing traffic towards the northern hemisphere allocates both challenges and opportunities with regards to Greenlandic economy, society and culture. The protection of natural environment and its resources calls for sustainability in infrastructure development activities.

The establishment of international cooperation between all Arctic states with regards to environmental friendly transit of people and goods to Greenland was created as the Nordic Strategy for Development of Sustainable Tourism. Greenland also participates in networks on tourism in the West Atlantic region. The expansion of research would benefit indigenous inhabitants of the world´s biggest island.

Source: Statistics Greenland

Details

Written by: ofurpaur

Category: Shipping

Published: 02 January 2023

Hits: 2908

Considering the area, Alaska is the largest state of United States and in the same time the biggest piece of American Arctic. It is located in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, bordering Canada in the east and the Arctic Ocean in the North. Across the Bering Strait, Alaska shares the border with Russian Federation and from the southern part it is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean.

Tourism is one of the state´s top industries in terms of both private and public sector. The government´s research shows that with regards to the residents ´employment, the tourism sector creates more than 20 thousand direct jobs and close to $447.9 million in personal income. The tourism industry also creates employment opportunities for non – residents, which in the past few years reached close to 25%.

Similarly to other remote Arctic territories, Alaska has rather limited road infrastructure concerning relatively small area of the state. Alaskan Highway is the principal route in and out of Alaska, linking together the central population centers.

The capital city – Juneau is not accessible via road but car ferry operating all year round. The western part of Alaska has no road system which could connect the communities with the rest of Alaska. The research shows, that in the past two years, only 5 % of visitors travelled by the Alaskan Highway.

Alaskan railway was built in 1915 and still it plays the key role in current development of the state.

The railway infrastructure connects north Pacific shipping through Seward to the Alaskan interior by way of South Central Alaska. It passes through key cities, such as Anchorage, Eklutna, Denali and Fairbanks with spurs to Palmer and North Pole. However, the Alaskan railway is still mostly used for cargo, not the tourist traffic.

More than 42 % of full year visitors volume comes to Alaska with the cruise ships. Shipping routes, connecting western Pacific with the southern Alaska in recent years created increase of the tourist traffic via sea. It is greatly known that some of the coastal villages can largely raise in population during the pick season of the summer period.

Even though the sea cruises become more and more popular, the great numbers of visitors travel every year to remote U.S territory via air. The research indicates that last year more that more than 54%, what give a number of almost 100.000 people choose aircraft as their way of transportation. The air traffic infrastructure remains highly developed and majority of the international traffic is held by the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Because of the limited access to most of the Alaskan interior towns and villages, those are regularly served by U.S domestic airlines.

The tourist volume has been increasing, however not significantly as not more than 4% over the past year, including both summer and winter traffic. Majority of the total traffic to Alaska is services by air traffic operators, while the marine cruise traffic is the second largest. Alaskan tourism industry is one of the biggest state´s industries, creating major of employment opportunities both for residents and non – residents from all over the world.

Source: Alaska Office of Tourism Development