A new quota for single-day visitors to Venice. A ban on holiday rentals is looming in Barcelona. Restrictions on alcohol sales in Mallorca. At a time when overwhelmed European destinations are imposing restrictions and quotas on tourists, Copenhagen is trying a different approach: rewarding visitors who act responsibly.
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Now, tourists who demonstrate climate-friendly travel behavior by participating in the City’s green initiatives—including bike and rail transportation and clean-up efforts—will have access to museum visits, kayak rentals, free meals and more. The measures went into effect in July.
“We need to move tourism from being an environmental burden to a force for positive change,” said Mikkel Aarø-Hansen, CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen, the tourism organisation for Denmark’s Capital Region. An important step, he said, “is to change the way we move around the destination, what we consume and how we interact with locals.”
On average, 81 percent of consumers say they want to act more sustainably, but only 22 percent have changed their behavior, according to a 2023 sustainability report from Kanter, a London-based market research group. CopenPay, Copenhagen’s new initiative, seeks to bridge the gap between the desire to act sustainably and actual behavior by making climate-friendly action a currency for cultural experiences.
For example, those arriving by bike or train to CopenHill, an artificial ski slope built on a new waste management centre, can ride down the rooftop hill for free. Copenhagen Surf School will offer a free meal to surfers who take part in 30 minutes of beach cleaning after their surfing course. More than 20 attractions will take part in the pilot programme over the summer.
“Our vision with CopenPay is to create a domino effect,” Hansen said. “We hope that other cities around the world will be inspired to find ways to incentivize more sustainable tourism behavior, for a more sustainable future for all.”
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