ADRIAN MA, HOST:
Lately, it seems some European cities have had it with tourists. In Paris, for example, staffers at the Louvre went on strike, overwhelmed by throngs of visitors. In Barcelona, protesters showed their displeasure by spraying tourists with water guns. Other cities have introduced fines for visitors who misbehave. But the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen, has been trying a different approach with something called CopenPay. It's a program that encourages tourists to be more mindful visitors, and here's how it works.
RIKKE HOLM PETERSEN: You pay for experiences in Copenhagen by doing an action. So, for instance, if you bike to a museum, or you walk or you take public transportation, you either get a free entry, a discounted entry there. Or you could go on a kayak tour or boat tour as well for free by collecting litter in our canals.
MA: That's Rikke Holm Petersen, director of marketing for Wonderful Copenhagen, which is the city's official tourism organization.
PETERSEN: In some other places, we also invite them to work in an urban garden. So these are some of the things that will be adventures for the city.
MA: I got to ask, where did the idea come from?
PETERSEN: I think I'll start on a vision in Copenhagen, and we want tourism to be a force for good. Last year, when we started thinking about what we wanted to do, we came across a survey by Kantar. It's a huge data analysis consultancy company, where they actually said - 4 out of 5 people say they want to do good, which is amazing. And we wanted to bridge that gap. So how can you make collecting litter fun? How can you make more people bike when they are in Copenhagen? How can you make them take public transportation? And then we came up with a reward system. It must be fun. It must be a unique experience. Otherwise, you won't have people to do it. It must be extremely easy. You go to copenpay.com, and there you would find a map, filter options where you can choose between what kind of actions would I like to do or what kind of rewards am I looking for. And then you get the result there.
MA: How do you know that these tourists have actually done the thing they say they've done to earn these rewards?
PETERSEN: Yeah. In some of the attractions, for instance, if you should have taken public transportation, they should show their train ticket, for instance, or bus ticket. But we really just trusted people.
MA: How has the response been from tourists and for locals?
PETERSEN: That's important to note as well because the concept was also for locals. Yeah, when we look at the results - and still, I don't have the results for this year - for the participants, we had a hundred percent satisfaction rate, and 98% would recommend CopenPay to others. And what they said is that this was an opportunity to try something else, you know, not the normal top attraction. This was not something you would find in Amsterdam or in Madrid or in Barcelona. And another huge thing, it's - which I think is important, is, of course, that we've sparked a global conversation on the impact of travel. How can we make tourism contribute in a better way to both visitors, but, of course, also to locals?
MA: What do you hope visitors gain or learn from participating in the program?
PETERSEN: One of the things we hope they gain from it is that when they leave, we hope they will leave inspired. That they've tried to bike, for instance, more, or that when they go home, that they choose more plant-based meals. But if you can have people or visitors doing it, no matter where they're going in the world or if they're also doing it at home, then we started sort of a movement, which could be really nice.
MA: That sounds lovely. We've been speaking with Rikke Holm Petersen, director of marketing for Wonderful Copenhagen. Rikke, thanks for taking the time.
PETERSEN: Thank you so much.
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