It is becoming more and more common for tourists to choose the streets of Copenhagen as their next holiday destination – and the capital is starting to show signs of wear and tear.
“Overtourism is not an objective category, it’s more that people experience it’s too much, it’s subjective,” explained Lars Fuglsang, Professor of Social Sciences and Business at Roskilde University.
“The risks of overtourism are that it’s difficult to get an apartment in the city because AirBnB take over the market and house prices increase. Tourists take up public space and noise increases, as well as garbage in the city, so there can be a lot of problems and I think the attention on this is growing also in Copenhagen,” he continued.
Fuglsang highlighted issues such as tourists renting bikes, not always knowing traffic rules, and excessive noise brought on by drinking more than residents.
“So some people think it’s too much, even in Copenhagen, and we need to reduce or spread the tourists more. It’s about wanting to control it, it’s not about not wanting tourists.”
Tourism in Denmark has increased substantially over recent years. In 2023, Denmark had 32.5 million visitors, a 12 percent increase from 2019. Then, in the first six months of 2024 alone, the Scandinavian country welcomed over 25 million tourists – another new record.
The most popular destination in 2023 according to Visit Denmark, was, unsurprisingly, Copenhagen. This was followed by Vesterhavet, the west coast region which includes Varde and Ringkøbing-Skjern and the north-west coast, which includes Hjørring, Holstebro, Jammerbugt, Lemvig, Thisted.
Tourism in the capital is a dividing subject, with some businesses welcoming visitors and investing a lot of effort into the industry, while others in central Copenhagen are opposed.
“During the summer there have been situations with festivals, where attitudes have been mixed [about] whether the residents want to have the tourism that comes with them, for example with the festival Musik i Lejet in Tisvildeleje,” Fuglsang continued.
“There’s scepticism from some people who have lived there a long time but others want to bring life to their community, so it’s a divided situation.”
Musik i Lejet used to welcome just 700 festival goers when it started in 2019, but now has around 10,000 across its four days in July.
The small town where it is hosted, in Gribskov Municipality on the north-west coast of Zealand, only has 1,400 residents and some have complained about the negative consequences on their lives and local businesses during the festival season.
The increase in people visiting Denmark has been linked to the popularity of “coolcations”, where travellers seek milder climates for their holiday due to the global rise in temperatures.
This summer, Copenhagen announced it would reward visitors and locals for green good deeds – like picking up rubbish or taking the bus – with free food, coffee or cultural activities to promote eco-friendly tourism and ease tensions between locals and tourists. However, Copenpay, as it was called, was only implemented until August 11.
As of November 2024, however, the Danish government rejected Copenhagen’s proposal to introduce a tourist tax, arguing that it would unfairly target Danish visitors, and make Denmark less popular as a tourist destination.