This summer, Copenhagen will reward tourists when they make sustainable decisions. With the CopenPay program, officials seek to reduce tourism’s environmental impact on the city of 600,000. There’s certainly a need for that — with historic attractions like Frederiksberg Palace and the Little Mermaid sculpture — and more than 12 million booking overnight stays last year.
Throughout Europe, there has also been recent pushback against over-tourism, with Barcelona locals shooting water pistols at visitors, and protests taking place in the Canary Islands. The Copenhagen program — while not aimed at reducing tourism — could make locals rest easier. Here’s how Copenhagen will encourage environmentally friendly tourism.
Green choices for cultural experiences: How Copenhagen will reward sustainable tourism
CopenPay is a win-win for Copenhagen and tourists, offering tangible rewards for actions that protect the environment. All visitors have to do is ride a bicycle, participate in a cleanup, or show a train ticket, then receive valuable cultural experiences in return.
Those visiting the city’s heating plant via public transportation can ski down the roof’s green pitch. Tourists who arrive at the National Gallery of Denmark with plastic waste can turn it into art in a free workshop. Additional offerings include free guided museum tours, a vegetarian lunch made of local crops, and kayak rentals.
The pilot project runs from July 15 through August 11. Visitors can find detailed info on www.copenpay.com.
Mikkel Aarø-Hansen, CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen, summed up the program’s intent, saying, “It is a core task for us to make traveling sustainable. And we will only succeed if we bridge the large gap between the visitors’ desire to act sustainably and their actual behavior. It might sound simple, but it is not. We want visitors to make conscious, green choices and hopefully end up getting even better experiences while they visit.”
He continued, “Through CopenPay we, therefore, aim to incentivize tourists’ sustainable behavior while enriching their cultural experience of our destination. It is an experimental and a small step towards creating a new mindset amongst travelers and one among many initiatives we are doing to make traveling more sustainable.”
