Copenhagen is launching yet another initiative to promote sustainable tourism through the use of a single-use payment technology called, CopenPay. Duration of this campaign was from July 15 to August 11 where tourists are encouraged to pick up litter, ride bike, take public transportation etc. Now, let’s explore some ways on how you can get free lunches, free museum tour, and all while saving the earth in Denmark’s capital city.
What is CopenPay?
CopenPay is a unique initiative of Copenhagen city to spread awareness about sustainable tourism among travellers. The proposal is for the sustainable management of tourist-related activities without necessarily increasing the number of tourists visiting the city. Play a positive part in tourism and tourists are likely to receive incentives including lunches, coffees, museum visits, wines and kayaks.
How Does CopenPay Work?
As a result of this chain, tourists are required to prove commitment to environmentally friendly practices in order to be allowed to join CopenPay. This can be achieved by displaying a ticket for public transport or producing any material that proves one has done some ‘litter picking’, for instance a photograph. Once the identification is complete, tourists get rewards from one of the 24 local businesses operating under the program.
Why CopenPay?
According to Mikkel Aaro Hansen, the CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen, CopenPay provides an opportunity for people to make a difference and ‘travel’ more in Copenhagen while bearing less impact on the environment.
Rikke Holm Petersen, the communications chief of the tourism board said, “When you travel abroad whether by flight, by car, you are a pollutant, one of the things we can alter is how sustainable the visitors are on the occasion.”
Local Business Participation
Onestrength of CopenPay is that it engages manyslot of local businesses. At present, twenty-four local businesses participate in the initiative, and they provide rewards without any help from the government. It aligns with the need to empower the community members to take ownership of the program to make it sustainable and effective.
Copenhagen’s Commitment to Sustainability
Sophie Haestorp Andersen, Copenhagen’s mayor, also welcomed the project by saying: ‘I am looking forward to having an opportunity to support an initiative such as CopenPay that combines culture heritage with the dedication to sustainable solutions.’
Future of CopenPay
The outcome of this small scale plan has the potential to make the experiment go on for the rest of the year. If successful though, it could be a long term strategic move for Copenhagen to promote tourist use of CopenPay and therefore the city would benefit by having more and sustainable tourists.
How to Participate
Engage in Eco-Friendly Actions: Activities such as litter picking, biking, or availing public transport, among others are acceptable.
Provide Evidence: You shall exhibit a public transport ticket or display a photo of the action that you took in support of the environment.
Earn Rewards: Other incentives to participate include free lunches, coffees, museum tickets, glasses of wine, kayaks, among others from the local traders.
