Could escalating Greenland annexation issue impact Las Vegas tourism? | Tourism

Southern Nevada tourism leaders are keeping a close eye on the U.S. bid to acquire Greenland and are hoping the matter doesn’t devolve into hard feelings by European consumers leading to decisions not to travel to the United States.

Although most agree it may be too early to speculate on whether President Donald Trump’s aggressive maneuvering to take over Greenland could lead to travel decisions in 2026, some are wary that some consumers could be angry enough to cancel their U.S. travel plans.

Aviation consultants to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority earlier this month attributed some massive declines in visitation from Canada to have been the result of hard feelings by Canadians resulting from Trump’s tariff policies with Canada and his statements that he would like to turn Canada into the 51st U.S. state.

In 2025, visitation from Canada to the U.S. was down 20 percent from a year ago while capacity on Canadian air carriers to Las Vegas fell 30 percent in the winter months. The decreases have resulted in around 217,000 fewer seats flying into Las Vegas from Canadian cities. It’s now the lowest seat capacity from Canada since 2006, Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consulting analyst Joel Van Over told the LVCVA board of directors earlier this month.

Van Over attributed a 3.5 percent decline in airline seat capacity at Harry Reid International Airport in 2025 to the bad feelings Canadians have for the United States and the continuing financial struggles of two ultra-low-cost air carriers, Denver-based Frontier Airlines and Florida-based Spirit Airlines.

Van Over said he’s optimistic there could be a rebound in international flight capacity with Air France scheduling three nonstop flights a week between Paris and Las Vegas, beginning in mid-April.

But if anger persists from European consumers, demand for flights could be affected.

“Any barrier to international visitation, whether geopolitical tension, policy uncertainty, or added entry barriers, might impact Las Vegas.,” LVCVA President and CEO Steve Hill said in an email. “With major international events on the horizon that have the potential to attract a global audience, perceptions and ease of travel matter. Visitors respond to how welcome and seamless their experience feels, and when uncertainty increases, it’s reasonable that international visitors could consider other destinations.”

New tariffs

In announcing his desire to acquire Greenland for defense purposes, Trump also said he intends on Feb. 1 to add 10 percent tariffs to eight countries that say they aren’t supporting the U.S. annexation of Greenland.

Among those countries are Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Nonstop flights already exist between those countries and Las Vegas with France set for service in April.

Trump de-escalated the Greenland annexation rhetoric Wednesday, clarifying that the U.S. wouldn’t attempt to take Greenland by force. He also backed off on the tariffs over Greenland.

But residents of Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark, and residents of Denmark are not happy with all the takeover talk.

The countries to be hit with tariffs also have questioned why it’s important to Trump to annex the world’s largest island when there’s been a longstanding agreement allowing the United States to build bases and move troops there if China or Russia made any aggressive military moves.

Other tourism leaders in Southern Nevada declined comment for this story, with some saying the topic is too volatile to comment on and others saying it’s too early to analyze potential tourism consequences arising from the Greenland issue.

Representatives of the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix, which could have the most at stake from a tourism downturn from Europe since many fans attending the race come from European nations, had no comment on Greenland developments.

Brendan Bussmann, managing partner of Las Vegas-based B Global, said now is the time for Southern Nevada to double down on international route development.

“While air travel has been down in some international routes over the last few months or almost a year and a half domestically, now is the time that we need to be doubling down to increase our international capacity to further expand the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions), sports and entertainment sectors,” Bussmann said in an email.

“The Air France route will help bring in a new route, but this is where Las Vegas needs to look at further expansion into Asia, Australia and further into Europe with routes to destination and world airports in Tokyo, Sydney, Dubai and Istanbul,” he said. “These of all offer additional connections to enhance the destination while connecting to world-class cities. We are already behind in the upgrading of the airport today in terms of capacity and modern amenities for the leisure and business customer. While we may have some downturn in domestic and in some international routes, this is about the long game, and now is the time to move.”

Hill also said it’s early to know tourism impacts, but he’s keeping an eye on it.

“While it’s too soon to say whether Europe will follow the same pattern we’ve seen with Canada, the broader takeaway underscores the importance of keeping the U.S. competitive, welcoming and accessible to international travelers,” he said.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.