Copenhagen rewards tourists with ice-cream and wine for climate-friendly actions
Picking up litter and biking instead of driving could earn travellers fantastic perks in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen officials have devised a unique way to minimise the carbon footprint of visitors to the city.
They have partnered with 24 tourist attractions to reward travellers who keep the city clean and take climate-friendly actions throughout their stay.
The tourism board is currently piloting a project called 'CopenPay'. It began on July 15 and will run until August 11. Green actions such as using public transport or riding a bike will earn tourists rewards such as ice-cream or a free trip down the city’s famous ski slope.
"Earn rewards at Copenhagen attractions ranging from a free lunch or a cup of coffee to a kayak tour or even a free entrance to a museum. All you need to do is, for instance, bike instead of drive, help maintain the city, work in an urban garden, or pledge to sustainable behaviour," its website states.
The project was started to help offset the effects of increased tourism to Denmark's capital city.
"It is a core task for us to make travelling sustainable. And we will only succeed if we bridge the large gap between the visitors’ desire to act sustainably and their actual behaviour. 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," Mikkel Aarø Hansen, CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen, said in a statement.
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Two weeks into the pilot, CopenPay is already popular with local and international visitors.
"Big it up for #copenpay!! Rewarding good behaviours leads to positive and long-lasting behavioural change. It's a fact!" one Instagram user commented.
A BBC reporter recently tested out the project and found that many people were taking advantage of the rewards programme. During her visit, Adrienne Murray Nielsen explored Copenhagen's waterways on an electric GoBoat.
She learned that over 500 people had already booked a slot on the boat using the CopenPay initiative. In exchange for picking up litter, they were rewarded with a free boat ride.
While some tourists are excited about taking green actions to make their travels more sustainable, some are not too keen on picking up litter, especially on a short visit.
"We're here three more days. During a trip like this, I probably wouldn't do it. But if I was here for maybe, say, two weeks, I definitely would," one tourist told the BBC.
Copenhagen tourist officials will review the campaign when the pilot ends and potentially introduce it to other areas.
"Based on the evaluation, we hope to reintroduce CopenPay as a year-round, green payment experience within the economy and broaden the concept to other parts of Denmark and the rest of the world," officials said.
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Main image credit: iStock/arcady_31