Last week travel agents and others with an interest in the development of tourism gathered in Nuuk at the VestNorden fair. Before the fair, some international travel agents took a trip around Disko Bay on a so called pretour to experience the many opportunities of Qeqertalik themselves.
11 travel agents filled with curiosity landed in sunny Aasiaat Friday to start their pretour-travel. They were welcomed by Destination Diskobay before they sailed to Qasigiannguit. Here they collected their own food and water from nature, and they spent the night in tents. All activities on the pretour were arranged in collaboration between Destination Diskobay and local tourist operators.
“It has been very important for Destination Diskobay to show the international travel agents the unique and special activities offered by our local operators in this region. We wanted to inspire the agents to spread out the tourists all over Disko Bay Region,” Linda Kleist, destination manager, says.
Intense program
After camping in Camp Qinngua the travel agents visited the museum and the workshop of the Living Settlement in Qasigiannguit, before traveling to Qeqertarsuaq. Here the agents had the opportunity to try the new sauna by the black beach, sail along the basaltic mountains, hike and meet local tourist operators and artists. As the last stop, they sailed back to Aasiaat to experience the local art on a guided city tour.
“Even though the program was tight, Destination Diskobay has gained a lot from the collaboration and the trips around our destinations. We believe, that the tourist operators will benefit from their work later. They really showed what they were able to do and we enjoyed working with them on this pretour,” Linda Kleist says.
After the pretours the travel agents, tourist operators and destination management organizations from Iceland, The Faroe Islands and Greenland and the rest of the world in Nuuk at the VestNorden fair.
Disko Bay can complement Ilulissat
Destination Diskobay participated to promote the operators of Disko Bay region and tell about the unique experiences of the region.
“It was interesting that many people, I talked to, could see the potential in spreading out the tourists across the regions of Greenland. Our region is an obvious possibility in complementing especially Ilulissat because of the short distance between our towns,” Linda Kleist says, and she continues:
“Furthermore, many travel agents told us, that their costumers want to experience both adventure tourism as well as the authentic Greenland. This brings a lot of potential for us, since our region has both.”
Next year the VestNorden Fair is located on Iceland. Read more about VestNorden here.
