The Danish capital hopes to attract climate-friendly and well-behaved travelers with perks such as free drinks and skiing. In Barcelona, visitors have been sprayed with water pistols in an expression of local people’s anger about over-tourism. By contrast, in Copenhagen, tourists are to be given financial and other incentives to come – as long as they act responsibly.
The Danish capital appears to be bucking the trend of other travel hotspots struggling under the burden of too many tourists by attempting to lure only well-behaved, socially, and environmentally conscious travelers.
The national tourist board has introduced a program to encourage climate-friendly, sustainable behavior. From Monday, it will reward those who choose to ride a bike, take public transport, or undergo a bit of work like gardening or rubbish collection at the harbor or in the city’s parks.
People who turn up with their own reusable coffee cups can expect to receive a free brew at selected venues, while other perks for good behavior include a complimentary cocktail on a rooftop bar or extra time spent on the city’s artificial ski slope complex. "All our choices have an environmental impact, so why not make conscious decisions that benefit us all and be rewarded for them?" the organizers behind CopenPay suggest.
Mikkel Aarø-Hansen of the official tourist board, Wonderful Copenhagen, said he hoped the idea would act as an inspiration for other cities to adopt as they seek to find a workable way to create a more mutually beneficial and less onerous relationship between tourists and local people.
“We need to ensure that tourism rather than being a burden for the environment is transformed into a power for positive change,” he said. He added that by embracing elements of the so-called experience economy, the program would also encourage more positive encounters between tourists and local people.
“Our core goals are to make traveling more sustainable. We’ll only manage this if we can overcome the big divide between the desire of visitors to behave in a sustainable way and their actual behavior.” He added that the challenge was “more complicated than it sounds”.
“We want visitors to make more conscious, more climate-friendly decisions and, in doing so, to hopefully have a more rewarding travel experience,” Aarø-Hansen added.
The “warm welcome” offered by the city, as crooned by Danny Kaye in the eponymous song, should be a given, in contrast to the unwelcome scenes tourists have faced at other destinations that have failed to manage visitor supply and demand, the city’s leaders say.
As global tourism evolves, cities like Copenhagen are pioneering new ways to balance visitor influx with sustainable practices. This initiative not only aims to reduce the environmental footprint of tourism but also to foster a deeper connection between travelers and locals. By promoting responsible behavior, Copenhagen sets a new standard for how cities can welcome tourists while safeguarding their cultural and natural resources.
Source: The Guardian
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