Good morning. Donald Trump’s invasion threats have helped turn Greenland into a hot new travel destination – more on that below, along with Jesse Jackson’s political legacy and Canada’s third Olympic gold. But first:
Today’s headlinesOpen this photo in gallery:
A tourist gets up close to a marooned iceberg in Nuuk this month.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
GreenlandThe Trump bump
Donald Trump’s fixation on acquiring Greenland – which he’s threatened to do “the easy way” or “the hard way” – has been bad news for territorial integrity, international law, global alliances and mutual-defence pacts. (You know: the stuff White House aide Stephen Miller recently waved off as “international niceties.”) But the U.S. President’s unrelenting interest in the island has had one silver lining. Tourists are now flocking to Greenland to see what the fuss is about.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Lars Anker-Moller, who runs exploration company Arctic Dream, told The Globe’s Europe correspondent Paul Waldie. Bookings for Anker-Moller’s boat tours, hiking trips and dog sled excursions in eastern Greenland were up roughly 60 per cent last summer. “The whole world knows now where Greenland is, and before nobody knew,” he said. “We got a lot of free advertising.”
Across the country, nearly 80 per cent of all tour operators surveyed by Statistics Greenland reported that 2025 had been “good” or “very good” for business. Hotel and Airbnb reservations are soaring; so is demand for longer stays with more stops. And the makeup of Greenland’s foreign visitors is changing, as well. It’s no longer mainly Danish or other Scandinavian tourists booking a ticket. People are coming from Germany, Britain, Canada and France – and, especially, from the United States.
Closing the distance
Up until late 2024, international travellers who wanted to fly into Nuuk, Greenland’s capital and most populous settlement, had to land first in Kangerlussuaq, the site of a former U.S. military base just above the Arctic Circle. From there, they needed to take a small propeller plane south for the final 320-kilometre stretch.
But that December, a new international airport opened in Nuuk, complete with a longer runway suitable for big jets, and began running direct flights from Copenhagen. Suddenly, it was faster and easier to get to the island’s main city – right around the time then-president-elect Trump started musing from his Mar-a-Lago ballroom about grabbing Greenland by force.
Then, last summer, United Airlines launched its own seasonal routes to Nuuk out of Newark, N.J., the first direct flight between the U.S. and Greenland since a short-lived leg from Baltimore to Kangerlussuaq ended in 2008. (United’s flights actually kicked off on June 14, Trump’s 79th birthday.) Two new airports are set to open later this year, in Qaqortoq and in Ilulissat, which Greenland pitches as the “iceberg capital of the world.”
Greenland’s hotels saw a 46-per-cent increase in foreign visitors last year.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Still, the recent surge in tourism hasn’t come without challenges. Greenland is absolutely massive – bigger in size than France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Britain, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands combined. But there are fewer than 150 kilometres of roads across the island, and none of those roads connect any of Greenland’s cities or towns.
Poor transportation links, as well as a lack of hotel beds, have made it hard for booked-and-busy tour operators to expand. Plus, Greenland is not a cheap holiday. A return flight from Nuuk to Ilulissat, which takes 90 minutes, costs about $1,000, and a one-hour boat tour from the capital can set a visitor back $600.
A viral campaign
Trump may have dialled back his attacks toward Greenland in favour of more recent pressure on Cuba and Iran instead. But his invasion threats continued to hover over the Munich Security Conference last weekend, where Greenland’s Prime Minister, 34-year-old Jens-Frederik Nielsen, was the most sought-after world leader, and where Trump’s imperial ambitions were the talk of the summit.
“Everyone asks us, do we think it’s over?” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told a panel on Arctic security. “I mean, no, we don’t think it’s over.” The White House appears to have received the same memo: It just posted a series of Valentine’s Day memes, including a card with a heart drawn around Greenland and the caption “It’s time we define our situationship.”
For its part, Greenland’s tourism board has the delicate task of trying to capitalize on the U.S. President’s attention while promoting the island as a much-needed escape from his endless Truth Social blasts. The solution? A new marketing campaign that heralds Greenland as a “rare sanctuary in a world full of noise.” And the campaign’s name? A pretty good rejoinder to Trump right now – it’s called “Shhh …”
Olympic Games‘When we had two laps to go, I was like, oh yeah, this is a good one.’Open this photo in gallery:
Ivanie Blondin, Valérie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann show off their hardware.Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
Canada’s speed skaters won their second straight gold medal in the women’s team pursuit, defending their 2022 Olympic title with a come-from-behind victory in Milan Cortina. For all our latest Olympics coverage, go to tgam.ca/olympics-daily.
The WrapWhat else we’re following
At home: British Columbia’s police watchdog is weighing whether to launch an investigation into the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge.
Abroad: Ottawa is facing mounting calls to send oil and humanitarian aid to Cuba as the country’s energy crisis deepens.
In memoriam: Civil-rights leader Jesse Jackson died yesterday at the age of 84, after decades of speaking uncomfortable truths to Americans, David Shribman writes.
In Milan: Figure skating’s “flower kids” keep the performances moving by grabbing all those bouquets and stuffed animals chucked onto the ice.
Ante up: Warner Bros. Discovery has reopened talks with Paramount, giving the Skydance-owned company seven days to top Netflix’s takeover bid.
Drink up: In excellent news for those of us on perpetual deadlines, two or three daily cups of coffee help protect long-term cognitive health.