Eco-friendly Copenhagen plans to reward visitors and locals for green good deeds — like picking up rubbish or taking the bus — with free food, coffee or cultural activities.
Denmark’s capital city is set to launch on Monday its scheme that will allow people to claim rewards by showing proof like a train ticket or a photo of themselves cycling, although the system is mostly trust-based.
The so-called CopenPay bonuses include a kayak or boat tour, a vegetarian meal, a museum ticket, or an e-bicycle ride — free of charge, the Copenhagen tourism office said.
“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”, tourism board CEO Mikkel Aaro-Hansen said.
The scheme runs to August 11 lets participants choose from 24 attractions.
The public’s reaction has been “overwhelmingly positive”, although some disappointed visitors “would have liked the scheme to be in place during their stay,” Copenhagen tourism office communications director Rikke Holm Petersen told AFP.
She said that the initiative alone cannot outweigh the environmental impact of tourism.
More than 100,000 passengers flew into Copenhagen in June, resulting in a much higher carbon footprint than bus or train travel, according to airport data.
“The environmental burden of transportation to and from Copenhagen is much more significant than that of local transportation,” said tourism website VisitCopenhagen.
“We have chosen to limit our advertising efforts to Copenhagen Airport, the central station, and within the city itself, rather than conducting marketing campaigns abroad,” Petersen said.
The tourism office will consider extending the scheme beyond the city — perhaps even abroad — if it proves successful.
“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,” according to the VisitCopenhagen site.