Tourists visiting the Danish capital Copenhagen this summer can get involved in a series of unusual initiatives, including picking up trash floating in the city’s canals, visiting museums by bicycle or volunteering in a city garden, the Associated Press reports.
All of these activities are part of a new four-week project called CopenPay, which aims to encourage tourists to do “climate-friendly activities”.
“We need to turn tourism from an environmental blight into a force for positive change,” says Mikkel Oro-Hansen, CEO of the tourism organization Wonderful Copenhagen, which is behind the initiative.
“We want visitors to the city to make conscious green decisions,” he adds.
Among the more than 20 attractions included in the initiative is a project by the environmental non-governmental organization GreenKayak, which offers tours of the city’s canals for tourists. They can row along the canals built back in the 17th century in green kayaks and in the meantime remove the trash floating in the waters. What is the reward? The two-hour tour is free if trash is picked up in the meantime.
In another project at the city’s organic farm, Jons Hafe, tourists can tend flower beds, pick coriander or feed chickens in exchange for a free lunch.
Tourists who reach the National Museum by bicycle or public transport, rather than by taxi or car, get a free ice cream. Visitors to the National Gallery can attend free lessons on making sculptures from plastic waste.
The “green” initiative started in mid-July and continues until mid-August. It comes at a time when many destinations are “under siege” from mass tourism, turning into overtourism, and are taking measures to limit it. Copenhagen is no exception – last year the city with a population of just over a million inhabitants was visited by 12 million tourists.
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