( CNN ) -- There 's a good chance you 've seen more of Greenland in magazines or on TV recently . With its ice cap and glaciers melting at a rapid rate , the island is at the center of climate change conversation . The stories are troubling , but it 's not all bad news for the folks in Greenland . You see , the increased attention has helped Greenland . Its tourism business is , by Greenland standards , booming . `` Our tourism is still very small , '' said Anders la Cour Vahl , a senior consultant at the Greenland Tourism and Business Council . `` But we 've seen quite an increase in cruise tourism and an incremental increase in land-based visitors . '' La Cour Vahl said Greenland gets about 30,000 cruise visitors per year , a four-fold increase in the past decade . About 35,000 people fly in for visits . It 's a lot for a nation that 's bigger than Alaska but with a population the size of Ames , Iowa . Most visitors to the island still come from Denmark ( Greenland is a self-governing Danish territory ) . But the second-largest group used to be Germans , la Cour Vahl said , and their numbers have been overtaken by people from North America . Only a few come because they want to see the ice cap before it vanishes , they say . More than 80 % of the island is covered by it , and the ice is as thick as 14,000 feet in some places , according to the U.S. Geological Survey . But it is disappearing . `` Greenland has been a major concern because there is a lot of ice sitting on land , and it 's melting a lot faster than we thought it was going to , '' said Keya Chatterjee , director of international climate policy for the World Wildlife Fund . `` It 's a big unknown in the system . '' Last year , the book `` 100 Places to Go Before They Disappear '' selected two sites in Greenland for its list -- the town of Ilulissat , to the west , and Zackenberg , in the northeast , where there 's an ecosystem research center . The book noted that temperatures in Greenland are substantially higher and said the water around Ilulissat no longer has permanent ice cover . For the Greenland tourism bureau , climate change is often a part of the discussion . They even devote a page to it on the greenland.com website , where they try to assure potential tourists that melting ice does n't mean there 's nothing to see . `` While doubt still prevails as to the speed at which the volume of the ice is declining and the complex relationships between causes of temperature increases , '' the site reads , `` there is one thing that is certain : New ice will continue to be created on the ice sheet , and there will still be enormous amounts of ice to admire in Greenland for the next many generations . It is just a question of how much . '' La Cour Vahl said that people who come to Greenland can witness firsthand the results of climate change . `` You can see how glaciers have been retreating . You can see the marks on the sides of the glacier where it used to be and where it is now , '' he said . `` Actually being there and being a witness to what is happening to our environment , that has great appeal . '' Chatterjee , whose organization works with tourism boards to promote eco-friendly practices , said places affected by climate change need to plan ahead . `` Many local economies are so dependent on tourism , '' she said . `` Forward-looking cities are starting to plan how do you diversify you economy and how do you develop other attractions . People can disagree about when the worst consequences of climate change will hit , but we know it 's already happening . '' The effects of climate change have `` put us on the map , '' la Cour Vahl says . The challenge now is to convince more people that Greenland is n't really that far a trip or such a forbidding land . But it 's not a destination for everyone , he admits . Most of the top tourist trips revolve around the ice or wildlife , such as watching polar bears or whales . Patricia Schultz , the author of `` 1,000 Places to See Before You Die , '' calls Greenland `` the ultimate frontier . '' The weather , while brutally cold in recent winters , can be surprisingly warm in the spring and summer , the top two tourist seasons , la Cour Vahl said . So when you pack your bags , do n't worry , you can even throw in a T-shirt . Or if the warming trend continues , a few T-shirts .
Greenland is getting more media attention as climate change affects the country . The attention has drawn more tourists to the island , including 30,000 cruise visitors per year . Greenland tourism officials tell visitors there 's still ice to see , but it 's unclear how much will remain over time .