“CopenPay was the biggest tourism news story in the world,” summarize the organizers – and hope for many imitators. Picture ©Daniel Rasmussen

Copenhagen – a city rewards sustainable tourism

According to the Danish Tourist Board, a full 82 percent of all tourists would like to travel more sustainably – but only 22 percent actually do. The City of Copenhagen launched the CopenPay campaign in response, running it this summer from July 15 to August 11, and has now evaluated its impact.

The idea was to reward tourists for sustainable practices. Examples include: 

• Participate in urban gardening and receive a free vegetarian lunch
• Pick up litter and canoe for free

26 different attractions in the capital participated. The concrete, sustainable tasks and the subsequent reward were very well received by the participants.

According to the initiative, 100 percent of the participants surveyed rated the pilot as positive.

Lina Holm-Jacobsen from VisitDenmark describes CopenPay to Green Pearls® as a success

“Many of the participating attractions that were limited in the number of participants had to report “sold out” very quickly, but there were also activities that were not limited in the number of participants, so there was something for everyone. The initiative also received a lot of media coverage around the world. – Lina Holm-Jacobsen from VisitDenmark

The organizers hope other cities and destinations around the world will replicate their campaign. Which we at Green PearlsⓇ think is really cool. Because we know that sustainable tourism is important to a lot of people. However, sustainable accommodation often stands alone and ecotourism is not yet practiced in the region itself.

Community campaigns like CopenPay, which for example also focuses on green transport for sightseeing, give sustainability a little more of the attention it deserves.