Have your say: How do you rate the public sports facilities in Copenhagen?

The Danish government on Wednesday proposed major spending on new public sports facilities in the Copenhagen area.

Published: 26 May 2021 15:20 CEST

Have your say: How do you rate the public sports facilities in Copenhagen?

Does Copenhagen need better public facilities for swimming and other sports? File photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The Greater Copenhagen region does not have enough sports halls, football pitches or swimming pools relative to its number of residents, according to the government, which wants to allow local authorities to build new facilities.

In a new plan for city development presented on Wednedsay, the government proposed giving the Copenhagen and Frederiksberg municipalities one billion kroner to invest on public sports facilities between 2022 and 2030.

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Bonuses on the new “CopenPay” scheme include a kayak or boat tour, a vegetarian meal, a museum ticket, or an e-bicycle ride — free of charge.

Why does the city want to give away these freebies?

“It is a core task for us to make travelling sustainable. And we will only succeed if we bridge the large gap between the visitors’ desire to act sustainably and their actual behaviour”, tourism board CEO Mikkel Aaro-Hansen said.

The public’s reaction has been “overwhelmingly positive”, although some disappointed visitors “would have liked the scheme to be in place during their stay,” Copenhagen tourism office communications director Rikke Holm Petersen told news agency AFP.

Although the tourist board says it wants the scheme to change behaviour to a more eco-friendly approach, it admits the initiative alone cannot dent the environmental impact of tourism.

More than 100,000 passengers flew into Copenhagen in June, resulting in a much higher carbon footprint than bus or train travel, according to airport data.

“The environmental burden of transportation to and from Copenhagen is much more significant than that of local transportation,” said tourism website VisitCopenhagen.

“We have chosen to limit our advertising efforts to Copenhagen Airport, the central station, and within the city itself, rather than conducting marketing campaigns abroad,” Petersen said.

The tourism office will consider extending the scheme beyond the city — perhaps even abroad — if it proves successful.

“We hope to reintroduce CopenPay as a year-round, green payment experience within the economy and broaden the concept to other parts of Denmark and the rest of the world,” according to the VisitCopenhagen site.