Global tourist destinations are adopting Copenhagen’s praised initiative to promote more conscious travel

A number of cities and tourist destinations in – among others – Germany and Finland are now planning to adopt a local version of the Copenhagen initiative, CopenPay, that allows tourists to “pay” for local experiences with conscious actions and give back to the destination they visit. CopenPay has potential for tourist destinations globally, international expert says. Copenhagen offers free boat tours and bike rentals and even a free lunch to tourists for collecting litter, choosing public...

Copenhagen, 20/08/2025 (informazione.news - comunicati stampa - economia)

Copenhagen offers free boat tours and bike rentals and even a free lunch to tourists for collecting litter, choosing public transport or helping out in a communal garden. Last summer, the Danish Capital launched a new positive approach to tourism – CopenPay, rewarding tourists for making more conscious choices. And for its second run this summer Copenhagen now also rewards tourists who arrive by train and is furthermore urging tourists to generally travel less by rewarding longer stays.

And now the positive Copenhagen approach is spreading internationally as a number of cities and tourist destinations are planning on creating their own local incentive schemes inspired of ‘CopenPay’.

 

Since launcing the CopenPay initiative the tourist board of Copenhagen, Wonderful Copenhagen, has been in contact with a wide number of other cities and tourist destinations all interested in adopting a local version of CopenPay.

says Søren Tegen Petersen, CEO at Wonderful Copenhagen.

One of those cities considering its own version – inspired by Copenhagen – is Berlin.

says Sabine Wendt, CEO visitBerlin.

Also the capital of Finland is considering local initiatives, inspired by CopenPay:

says Tourism Director Nina Vesterinen, City of Helsinki.

In the German city of Bremen, they’ve launched a cooperative campaign with Deutsche Bahn, now developed further inspired by CopenPay:

says Oliver Rau, Managing Director of Bremen Marketing and Tourism, Wirtschaftsförderung Bremen GmbH

 

UN projects a steep increase in global travel with the number of arrivals increasing globally from 1.4 billion in 2019 to 1.8 billion in 2030 – so there is a need to reconsider how we travel. And CopenPay is all about raising awareness about the choices we all make as tourists.

The potential for developing local versions inspired of the Copenhagen initiative extents to destinations around the globe, says Rodney Payne, CEO of Destination Think – a Canada based consulting agency specializing in forward thinking development in the global tourism industry.

says Rodney Payne.

 

Attachments