1. COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE - CRUISE PASSENGERS 2015 AND 2016
Looking at the statistics about country of ’residence’ of cruise passengers visting Greenland in 2015 and 2016, it’s clear that both years, we have an over-representation of German citizens, compared to other segments, especially in 2015, where German citizens represented 52.3% of all registrered passengers.
In 2016 there was a large share of total no. of passengers that were not registered (34.8%), so this leaves the data prone to statistical uncertainty.
Of the registered passengers by country of residence, the 2016 market shares were:
Germany (45%)
UK (13%)
US (8%)
Canada (7%)
China (4%)
France(4%)

2. NO. OF CRUISES, BY PAX SIZE – QUARTERLY COMPARISON 2015 VS 2016
Not surprisingly Q3 is the most active cruise quarter with 78.9% of all cruises in 2015, and 80.8% of all cruises in With 68.9% in 2015 and 66.3% in 2016 of all individual cruises, the small cruise category (with a max capacity of 250 pax) is the pax size category with far the most individual cruises. The next-most active pax size cruiseship segment was the pax segment in 2015, but in 2016 it was the pax size segment.
The number of cruises increased in 2016 to 104 compared to 90 in 2015.
In 2016 Greenland received 3.2% less unique cruise passengers, but the average number of port calls per passenger increased.

3. NO. OF CRUISE PASSENGERS VISITING NORTH GREENLAND 2015 VS 2016
Spring and Summer (Q2 and Q3) is the cruise season in North Greenland. Ilulissat is the most visited destination with 42.4% share of passenger port calls in 2015, and 54.5% in 2016.
19% more passengers visited destinations in the region, an increase from 19,451 in 2015 to 23,081 in The most distinctive difference between the two years is the 52.4% growth in no. of passengers visiting Ilulissat in 2016 compared to 2015.
Looking beyond Ilulissat in 2016, we can observe a slight negative trend for Qaanaaq, Qeqertarsuaq and Qasigiannguit, but a positive trend for Upernavik, Uummannaq and Aasiaat.

4. NO. OF CRUISE PASSENGERS VISITING DEST. ARCTIC CIRCLE 2015 VS 2016
Overall, there were 6.5% more cruise passengers on ships visiting the region in 2016 than in Like with North Greenland, we only see activity in Q2 and Q3. The most distinctive difference between the two years, is that in 2016 Sisimiut received the biggest volume of guests of the 3 destinations, which is contrary to the pattern in 2015, where Kangerlussuaq received the biggest volume of passengers.
These changes in
patterns only make sense when you look at the itineraries of each cruise ship – and the big picture as a whole.
Many cruise companies have different itineraries from one year to the next, and often include several regions in Greenland on each cruise.

5. NO. OF CRUISE PASSENGERS VISITING CAPITAL REGION 2015 VS 2016
From 2015 to 2016 Nuuk registered a growth of 47.8% in visiting cruise passengers from 7,342 passengers to 10,849 passengers. Paamiut saw a 13.5% growth from 2015 to 2016, with a total of 2,961 passengers in 2016 and 2,609 passengers in 2015.
Numbers show a shift in seasonality for Nuuk, with a distinct change of volume from Q2 to Q3.
Whether this is a trend or simply a short term change in cruise call patterns will be monitored in the coming years.

6. NO. OF CRUISE PASSENGERS VISITING SOUTH GREENLAND 2015 VS 2016
Overall there was a 6.2% growth in total no. of passengers in South Greenland from 2015 to 2016.
Q3 is clearly the time of year when most cruise activity is happening in South Greenland, and Qaqortoq is the destination that attracts most cruise passengers with 76.1% share of the total volume of passengers in South Greenland in 2015 and 53.1% in 2016.
Qaqortoq registered a decrease in no. of passengers of -25.9% from 2015 to 2016.
This development was however offset by healthy growth in the region as a whole.

7. NO. OF CRUISE PASSENGERS VISITING EAST GREENLAND 2015 VS 2016
The 2016 cruise season in East Greenland is characterized by an overall growth of 81.9% in the number of passengers on ships visiting the region.
In Tasiilaq the growth was an impressing 102.3% from 2015 to 2016, and Ittoqqortoormiit had a growth of 50.5%.