Europe · City & historic centre
Copenhagen
Danish capital whose tourism body has questioned volume as a goal since 2017, while bednights hit records and the council curbs inner-city hotels.
Copenhagen is a useful test of how a city tourism organisation handles growth it has never set out to stop. Wonderful Copenhagen, the tourism organisation for the capital region, has issued a sequence of strategies that question volume as a goal: The End of Tourism as We Know It in 2017, Tourism for Good for 2018–2021, and Copenhagen, All Inclusive, released in 2024 234. Bednights, meanwhile, reached a record of more than 12.5 million in 2025 5.
Its best-known recent experiment, CopenPay, rewards visitors for climate-friendly actions and became a year-round programme in 2026 67. Its results are reported by Wonderful Copenhagen itself, are partly self-reported by participants and, as far as we could establish, have not been independently evaluated. Residents' assessment of tourism has fallen short of the organisation's own target, and in 2026 the city council moved to bar new hotel capacity in part of the inner city 48.
Geography and cultural context
Copenhagen's visitor economy has grown steadily. Bednights rose by more than 50% over the decade to 2025, a compound annual growth rate of 4.7% between 2016 and 2025, reaching a record of more than 12.5 million in 2025 5. Hotel supply continues to expand, with several properties scheduled to open between 2026 and 2028, although an analysis by the consultancy HVS expects a temporary planning restriction on new hotel development to last until around March 2027 5.
Growth has been framed differently over time. A strategy published in 2017 built on 'localhood' — the idea of treating visitors as temporary participants in local life — and shifted Wonderful Copenhagen's role from promotion towards tourism management 21.
Communities and livelihoods
Wonderful Copenhagen tracks resident sentiment continuously. Based on 34,626 interviews between January 2022 and May 2025, 56% of residents thought tourism created more positive than negative effects, against the organisation's target of 72% by 2025 4. Tourism for Good had earlier set a 2021 target of at least 80% of residents supporting continued tourism growth 3.
On 30 April 2026 the city council adopted, by 40 votes to 13, a proposal instructing the administration to prepare planning rules under which no new hotel capacity may be established in a designated part of Indre By, the inner city 8. The proposers cited concern that a high concentration of hotels and tourists strains everyday life and said they did not want the area to become a backdrop for tourists; opponents argued demand would shift to short-term rentals or push up prices 814. Exceptions around some large squares with Metro stations were discussed 14.
Tourism model and development
Copenhagen, All Inclusive, released on 27 September 2024, runs to 2030 and puts sustainability at the core of Wonderful Copenhagen's work, explicitly bringing tourist travel emissions into scope 24. It is tracked through a framework called the Copenhagen Compass, covering six impact categories 2. For meetings and events, the convention bureau offers a sustainability guide to help organisers understand and reduce their environmental impacts, developed as part of a net-zero climate roadmap for the city's tourism 12.
CopenPay is the most visible instrument. It began as a four-week pilot in July–August 2024, ran for about two months in 2025 and became year-round in June 2026 9107. Wonderful Copenhagen reports more than 30,000 participants and a 59% increase in bike rentals among participants, alongside self-reported habit change 6. Verification has largely relied on trust 11, and critics note that the scheme does not touch flight emissions 13.
Initiatives and their evidence
| Initiative | Led by | What it is | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| CopenPay | Wonderful Copenhagen with partner attractions | Rewards visitors with free or discounted experiences for climate-friendly actions such as cycling, arriving by train or collecting litter. Piloted in 2024; year-round from 2026.67910 | Documented |
| Copenhagen, All Inclusive | Wonderful Copenhagen | Tourism strategy released in September 2024, running to 2030, that brings visitor travel emissions into scope and measures impact through the Copenhagen Compass.24 | Announced |
| Inner-city hotel capacity restriction | Copenhagen City Council (Københavns Kommune) | Council decision of April 2026 instructing the administration to prepare planning rules barring new hotel capacity in a designated part of Indre By.814 | Announced |
| Copenhagen Sustainability Guide | Copenhagen Convention Bureau (Wonderful Copenhagen) | Guide helping congresses and events understand and reduce their environmental impacts, developed under Wonderful Copenhagen's net-zero climate roadmap for the city's tourism.12 | In progress |
Challenges
- Resident sentiment (56% seeing more positive than negative effects) is well below Wonderful Copenhagen's 72% target for 2025.
- Bednights reached a record in 2025, testing strategies that say visitor growth is not a goal in itself.
- CopenPay's figures are first-party and partly self-reported, and verification of participants' actions relies largely on trust.
- Flight emissions, typically the largest part of a visitor's footprint, are not addressed by CopenPay.
Open questions
- Will Wonderful Copenhagen publish the methodology and sample sizes behind CopenPay's evaluation, including the Maple study?
- Where exactly will the inner-city hotel restriction apply, for how long, and how will its effects on short-term rentals be monitored?
- What do the Copenhagen Compass indicators show so far for the 2024–2030 strategy?
- How are residents of the most visited neighbourhoods represented in tourism decisions beyond sentiment surveys?
Further reading
External
How CopenPay works, on Visit CopenhagenShows the current, year-round version of the scheme as presented to visitors.
The Regenera Luxury Magazine · affiliated with this publication
The claims test: green claims under EU Directive 2024/825How EU rules on vague environmental claims apply to words such as “eco-friendly” and “regenerative” — useful context for any green tourism scheme
Sources
- 1The beginning of localhood: Copenhagen strategy (consultancy portfolio) — Destination Think. First-party
- 2Copenhagen's all-inclusive strategy charts the path to a better travel future — Destination Think, 2 October 2024. Media
- 3Tourism for Good: sustainable tourism strategy — Wonderful Copenhagen. First-party
- 4Wonderful Copenhagen sustainability report 2024 — Wonderful Copenhagen. First-party
- 5Copenhagen Market Pulse 2026 – Full Steam Ahead in the North — HVS, 7 July 2026. Independent
- 6Copenhagen expands CopenPay year-round and takes tourist rewards global (Wonderful Copenhagen press release) — Breaking Travel News, 12 June 2026. First-party
- 7CopenPay — Visit Copenhagen (Wonderful Copenhagen). First-party
- 8Borgerrepræsentationen, meeting 30 April 2026, item 27: Medlemsforslag om regulering af hoteller i Indre By (minutes) — Københavns Kommune, 30 April 2026. Government
- 9Travel by public transport and get free tickets with Copenhagen's new green initiative — Euronews, 18 July 2024. Media
- 10CopenPay whitepaper 2026 — Wonderful Copenhagen (copy hosted by Noosa Shire Council). First-party
- 11Copenhagen rewards tourists for good behavior as Europe struggles with overtourism (NPR) — NPR via Connecticut Public, 10 August 2025. Media
- 12Copenhagen Sustainability Guide — Copenhagen Convention Bureau (Wonderful Copenhagen). First-party
- 13À Copenhague, le tourisme durable se monnaie à coups de gestes verts — consoGlobe, 12 May 2025. Media
- 14Copenhagen council to ban new hotels in city centre — The Local Denmark, 24 April 2026. Media