These Destinations Are Rewarding Tourists for Eco-friendly Behavior

A cafe isn’t exactly the ideal place to find yourself in a one-sided water gun fight. In early July, protests throughout Spain and the Canary Islands called for vacationing visitors to “go home,” with some protesters using the spray toys to annoy tourists. 

Overtourism in Europe isn’t a new issue. Since the 2010s, European countries have enacted measures to redirect visitors to lesser-known destinations. For instance, the sinking city of Venice imposed a tourist tax in 2011 to maintain the city’s infrastructure and historical sites and recently added a day-tripper fee. Dozens of international destinations have tourist taxes; Amsterdam’s is the most expensive, and the Dutch city even enacted a hotel ban that further restricts tourist numbers in the area. Still, Europe is the number one tourist destination in the world, according to the European Environment Agency. With international tourist travel returning to pre-pandemic levels, some destinations are taking a positive approach, developing new policies that promote more sustainable tourism.

Here are three destinations around the world that are rewarding tourists for making mindful choices. 

Copenhagen

As one of the most sustainable destinations in the world according to the Global Sustainability Index, Copenhagen has launched a sustainable tourism program named “CopenPay.” Tourists who use public transport, bike, eat at eco-friendly restaurants, refill water bottles, and participate in other initiatives to give back to the city and environment will be rewarded with activities like free cups of coffee or complimentary museum visits. Copenhagen tourism says CopenPay “is not intended to increase tourism.” Rather, Mikkel Aarø-Hansen, CEO at Wonderful Copenhagen said in a press release that, “We must turn tourism from being an environmental burden into a force for positive change, and one important step in this transformation is to change how we move around on the destination, what we consume, and how we interact with the locals.” For now, CopenPay will run for a limited time, until Aug. 11, with the potential to return annually.

Faroe Islands

The self-governing Danish archipelago that is the 18 Faroe Islands debuted the “Closed for Maintenance” program in 2019. The goal was to close a few popular tourist sites around the islands to tourists for one weekend, but leave sites open to volunteers — dubbed “voluntourists”— to work on combating erosion and rebuilding the attractions. Because of the net positive impact, Closed for Maintenance is repeated every year. Visitors can sign up and  buy a ticket to the islands, where they will be assigned a project during which they can befriend locals, make international acquaintances, and preserve natural landmarks.

Since the start of this program, the islands’ overall tourism message has also shifted. The Visit Faroe Islands board says that “tourism should always mean we make our home better,” balancing the need to preserve the natural beauty and culture while sharing it with interested visitors. 

Hawaii

Another island getaway has a similar method for using tourism to make the destination a better place for both visitors and locals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawaii saw a glimpse into what island life was like without the usual floods of visitors. Hawaii’s 2050 sustainability plan notes that this period emphasized the need to reallocate resources into local communities and land preservation. Following the pandemic, the tourism board of Hawaii began the regenerative  Mālama (“give back”) tourism initiative across all of the Hawaiian Islands. The Mālama program encourages tourists to plan their visit around eco-friendly experiences like coastal cleanups in Kaua’i and forest preservation on Mauna Kea. Similar to CopenPay, participating in Malama Hawai’i provides perks, like chances for hotel discounts or a free night.