Chinese Tycoon Hopes to Build $100 Mil. Iceland Resort
By wchung | 26 May, 2025

Cool Venture: A Chinese tycoon seeks to buy a sizable chunk of Iceland for a vast eco-resort.

Chinese tycoon and adventurer Huang Nubo wants to buy a vast tract of land in Iceland for a $100 million eco-resort and golf course, reports the Financial Times.

The land Huang wants to buy occupies 300 square kilometers (117 square miles) of wilderness in northeast Iceland comprising about 0.3% of the nation’s total land area. Huang has already struck a deal with private landowers for the purchase, but its strategic location near a deepwater port requires approval by the government though it does not include any coastline.

Huang plans to build an eco-tourism resort and golf course on the land. Opponents of the project question why so much land is needed to build a hotel and warn that the project could be be a cover for China’s geopolitical interests. Iceland is a NATO member nation. Despite its tiny population of only 320,000, the island occupies a strategic location between Europe and North America. It has even been touted as a potential hub for Asian cargo once global warming opens Arctic waters to shipping.

Iceland’s foreign ministry said it “welcomed foreign investment and strengthening of tourism,” but said it would conduct a thorough study before approving the project. The nation is struggling to recover from a 2008 banking crisis and has been seeking inward foreign investment.

Huang’s interest in Iceland is motivated by his love of nature rather than geopolitics. He developed ties with Iceland after sharing a room with an Icelandic student, Hjorleifur Sveinbjornsson, at Peking University during the 1970s. Sveinbjornsson’s wife is a former Icelandic foreign minister and Reykjavik mayor. He is acting as Huang’s informal representative in Iceland.

Huang is ranked by Forbes as China’s 161st richest man, with a net worth of $890 million. His Zhongkun Group owns resorts and tourist facilities across China. Before becoming a real estate investor Huang worked at China’s Central Propaganda Department and the Ministry of Construction. He has climbed Mount Everest and reached the north and south poles and considers himself an adventurer and poet.