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A greener getaway? Danish capital tests climate reward scheme for tourists

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A greener getaway? Danish capital tests climate reward scheme for tourists
News

News

A greener getaway? Danish capital tests climate reward scheme for tourists

2024-08-01 01:36 Last Updated At:09:21

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Tourists visiting Copenhagen this summer are encouraged to participate in unusual kinds of vacation fun, including plucking floating trash from the Danish capital’s waterways, cycling to museums instead of going by car, or volunteering at an urban garden.

All these activities are part of a new, four-week pilot project called CopenPay that rewards tourists for “climate-friendly actions."

“We must turn tourism from being an environmental burden into a force for positive change,” said Mikkel Aarø-Hansen, the CEO of tourist board Wonderful Copenhagen, which runs the scheme.

“We want visitors to make conscious, green choices and hopefully end up getting even better experiences while they visit,” Aarø-Hansen said in a statement earlier this month.

Among the over 20 attractions participating in the project is the environmental non-profit organization GreenKayak which offers water tours for tourist volunteers. They can paddle through Copenhagen’s 17th-century waterways aboard green-colored kayaks, plucking floating trash from the water. The reward? A free two-hour litter-picking cruise. One main sailing lane heads out to the Baltic Sea.

“When you are in the ocean, you get invested in the ocean. So, I hope that that will keep inspiring people to not leave trash in the ocean,” Elisabeth Friis Larsen, a spokeswoman for GreenKayak, told The Associated Press.

Elsewhere, tourists can trim flower beds, harvest coriander or feed chickens at Oens Have urban garden, then stay for a complimentary lunch. Or get free ice cream if they cycle or take public transport to the country’s National Museum instead of going by taxi or rental car to reduce emissions.

Visitors to SMK, Denmark’s National Gallery, can attend workshops where they’re taught how to transform plastic waste into jellyfish sculptures.

“The whole idea was that people should bring their own plastic waste. And out of that, the children will build a jellyfish,” explained workshop leader, artist Susanne Brigitte Lund.

Copenhagen's climate-friendly vacationers' project — which began on July 15 and is set to wrap up on August 11 — comes as the world's top destinations are grappling with the burdens of mass tourism. Copenhagen also gets its fair share of tourists with more than 12 million overnight stays last year.

Amid demonstrations and protestors firing water pistols at visitors, Barcelona City Hall announced last month that it would not renew any tourist apartment licenses after they expire in 2028.

Italy’s Venice recently extended a pilot program charging day trippers a five-euro ($5.45) entrance fee to the fragile lagoon city.

And the town of Fujikawaguchiko recently constructed a large black screen to block the view of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji. The reason: misbehaving foreign tourists.

On a recent busy summer weekend, tourists thronged Copenhagen’s historic Nyhavn harbor area, as sightseeing ferries squeezed down its narrow waterway, packed with smartphone-snapping passengers.

Tourist Fiona Veira from northwest Spain said the CopenPay scheme is a “really good idea,” but only if visitors have the time.

“It depends how long you’re going to stay in the city. But if you’re here for more than two days then yeah,” she said. “It’s also a really nice way of seeing, interacting with the city.”

Veira was aware of the city's climate-supporting programs, but did not participate in any of them because she was visiting Copenhagen for one day only and didn't have enough time.

Many others, however, admit to leaving their green principles at home, once summer holidays come around.

“I think about it when I’m at home, but when I travel, I do think about convenience more,” said Caroline Kranefuss from Boston.

University of Copenhagen researcher Berit Charlotte Kaae said the CopenPay scheme is interesting because it “puts some action to the concept of sustainability.”

“It’s interesting to give this hands-on experience,” she said. But In order to address the true environmental problems of mass tourism, tourism authorities must look to the source — transportation.

“We need to work more on aviation fuels, maybe better train service, to avoid the short distance flights,” she said.

Two tourists sit watching sightseeing ferries sail by in Copenhagen’s historic Nyhavn harbor area in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday July 28, 2024. (AP photo/James Brooks)

Two tourists sit watching sightseeing ferries sail by in Copenhagen’s historic Nyhavn harbor area in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday July 28, 2024. (AP photo/James Brooks)

Tourists board a sightseeing ferry in Copenhagen’s historic Nyhavn harbor area in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday July 28, 2024. (AP photo/James Brooks)

Tourists board a sightseeing ferry in Copenhagen’s historic Nyhavn harbor area in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday July 28, 2024. (AP photo/James Brooks)

Sightseeing ferries navigate Copenhagen’s historic Nyhavn harbor area in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday July 28, 2024. (AP photo/James Brooks)

Sightseeing ferries navigate Copenhagen’s historic Nyhavn harbor area in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday July 28, 2024. (AP photo/James Brooks)

KARTALKAYA, Turkey (AP) — As flames tore through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey, friends Esra Karakisa and Halime Cetin stood helpless, paralyzed by the horror unfolding before them: people leaning out of smoke-filled rooms pleading for help and others making the harrowing decision to leap out.

The fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalya, in the Koroglu mountains in Bolu province, on Tuesday left at least 76 people dead and 51 injured. It came near the start of a two-week winter break for schools when hotels in the region are filled to capacity.

“There was no one around. They were calling for firefighters. They were breaking the windows. Some could no longer stand the smoke and flames, and they jumped,” Cetin, an employee at a hotel adjacent to the Grand Kartal, told The Associated Press.

Her colleague, Karakisa said: “It was awful. We were terrified. People were screaming. The cries of children especially affected us. We wanted to help but there was nothing we could do. I couldn’t look it was so terrifying.”

Authorities have assigned six prosecutors to investigate the cause of the fire, which appeared to have started at the restaurant section on the fourth floor of of the wooden-clad hotel and spread quickly through to the upper floors.

At least nine people have been detained for questioning, including the hotel owner.

Flags at government buildings and Turkish diplomatic missions abroad were lowered to half-staff as the nation shocked by the disaster observed a day of mourning for the victims.

Only 45 of the 76 bodies have been identified so far, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said late Tuesday.

One of the injured was in serious condition, while 29 others were treated and released, the Health Ministry said.

The hotel had 238 registered guests, according to Yerlikaya. The fire was reported at 3:27 a.m. and the fire department began to respond at 4:15 a.m., he told reporters.

Officials and witnesses said the rescue efforts were hampered by the fact that part of the 161-room hotel is on the side of a cliff.

According to Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the hotel underwent inspections in 2021 and 2024, and “no negative situation regarding fire competence” was reported by the fire department.

Karakisa said she eventually brought clothes and water for the survivors while others rushed to bring mattresses for people to jump onto or propped up ladders against the wall to help them escape.

Among those who placed mattresses was Baris Salgur, a cleaner in a nearby hotel.

“They were saying, ‘Please help, we’re burning!' They were saying, ‘Call the fire department,' we were trying to calm them down, but there was nothing we could do, we couldn’t get in either,” Salgur, 19, said. " It was very high, we couldn’t extend a rope or anything of course. We were trying to do the best we could.”

“People jumped from a great height, I couldn’t look. There were two women at the top floor. The flames had literally entered the room. They couldn’t stand it and jumped,” he said.

Salgur described seeing a man on the top floors holding a baby and shouting for a mattress he could throw his baby on.

"We told him to be a little calmer. He waited, then the fire department came and took them (out), but unfortunately the baby had died from smoke inhalation,” he said.

Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Robert Badendieck in Istanbul contributed to this report.

Tightened bed sheets hang from a window of a hotel where a fire broke out at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Tightened bed sheets hang from a window of a hotel where a fire broke out at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A Turkish flag flag flies at half staff outside a hotel where a fire broke out at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A Turkish flag flag flies at half staff outside a hotel where a fire broke out at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters and emergency teams work on the aftermath of a fire that broke out at a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters and emergency teams work on the aftermath of a fire that broke out at a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in a hotel at a ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, in northwest Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Enes Ozkan/IHA via AP)

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in a hotel at a ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, in northwest Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Enes Ozkan/IHA via AP)

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