Copenhagen
destination quickly, with little respect
for local culture, and more concern for
getting the best Instagram snap.
In an increasingly globalised world, it
might seem an impossible task to stem
the rising tide of tourism. But
Christopher Paling, Senior Lecturer at
Manchester Metropolitan University,
offers us some hope. He runs down a
few of the ground-breaking aviation
projects attempting to cut carbon
emissions in the sector. Rotterdam
Airport, he says, is trialling a new kind
of synthetic fuel which extracts CO2 out
of the environment, while Norway is
currently developing electric planes. It
also bears mentioning that SAS, which I
flew with to Copenhagen, gives the
option of offsetting the entirety of your
flight on sustainable biofuel.
It’s no surprise that Scandinavia is
leading the way in sustainable aviation,
but these solutions are still small-scale,
and cannot mitigate the huge rise in air
traffic coming from developing parts of
the world.
Here’s a question for you, eventprofs.
If your government set a limit on the
number of flights you could take every
year, how would you feel? Would you
feel your personal freedom was being
restricted?
In a seminar discussion between
TUT keynotes, one member of our
group pointed out that many people felt
the same way about the smoking ban
some decades ago. The trick, it would
seem, is to remind people of the benefits
provided by the alternative, rather than
focusing on what is being left behind.
“In an age facing a climate
crisis and traffic jams on
Mount Everest, tourism
growth must be managed
responsibly.”
A force for good
That, in a nutshell, is what the city of
Copenhagen is all about. Everywhere we
go, venues jump at the chance to tell us
about their sustainable initiatives. Reffen,
a street food market in the trendy
Refshaleøen district, has a magical
machine that turns biodegradable plastic
into compost. Bella Center, the city’s
largest conference and exhibition venue,
is Green Key certified and sorts all its
waste into 16 categories after each event.
Wonderful Copenhagen, the city’s
tourist board and our hosts for three
days, have a dedicated Sustainability
Manager. Nanna Thusgaard runs us
through a survey which was carried out
to ask locals how they feel about tourism
in Copenhagen: what issues it creates,
and what areas of the city are most
affected. “Overtourism is not something
measurable - its a feeling,” she says.
“This is why it is important our first
step is to ask the locals for their
thoughts, and then work on building
tourism as a force for good in
Copenhagen.”
Standing on the roof of Copenhill,
that lofty goal seems more than
achievable. Watching families laughing
as they barrelled down the ski slopes, set
to a utopian backdrop of green energy
plants and crisp Autumn sunshine, I felt
genuinely moved. It gave me some hope
that humanity isn’t just burning our
planet to the ground for the sake of
increasing profit margins.
Copenhagen’s thoughtful destination
management is leading by shining
example when it comes to sustainability.
It serves a crucial role as a vehicle for the
kind of brilliant madness that Bjarke
Ingels and his friends
are dreaming up, and
in bringing the
message of responsible
tourism to the world at
large.
Above: A
playground on the
roof in Norhavn
Left: The cobbled
streets of the
Gammelholm
district
ISSUE 103
/
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
/
37