Q1: What makes your destination truly unique for meeting planners?
Copenhagen offers something for everyone. Any season.
The destination is one of the world’s most liveable and sustainable cities. It is home to one of the oldest monarchies in the world with a rich history tracing back to the Viking Age, and thus a capital ahead of its time without forgetting its past.
COPENHAGEN IS A HIVE OF HYGGE AND HAPPINESS.
It is surrounded by water and has one of the world’s most distinct and innovative food scenes. It is the perfect place to test your bike riding skills and make use of a highly efficient public transport system whilst taking in some of its grand sights.
Copenhagen is a world-renowned innovator in e.g. healthcare, fintech and design. It is a hive of hygge and happiness, chefs and cycling. A safe and liveable city, easy to get around and easy to reach.
It comes with a wide variety of venues and stunning hotel options, offers world-class possibilities for conferences and events, and is a specialist in innovative meeting design. It is where to connect with world-leading research institutes and communities, unlock sustainable possibilities and leave a long-lasting legacy after your event.
Q2: If your destination were a personality, how would you describe it?
Because we are a small destination, we have to come up with great ideas! 😉 If Copenhagen were a person, that person would be generous and visionary, and beautiful inside and out. Old, but young at heart. An inclusive and eco-conscious human being, filled with ideas, drive and ambition, with an appetite for the new – and respect for the old. Someone with a holistic and international mindset, yet community-oriented and caring.
Q3: What are the three key experiences that every event attendee should have when visiting your destination?
Bike around the city, like the locals do. It’s fun and sustainable, and an easy way to get around. The city’s biking infrastructure is excellent and accessibility in Copenhagen top class. If you’re not into cycling, then public transport is of very high standard too, with the Metro, busses and harbour busses connecting the city districts extremely well.
Experience Copenhagen from the water – or stroll along its scenic canals and milelong harbour front. Perhaps even take a dip in the clean water at one of its many harbour baths – the locals do it all year round!
Eat your way through Copenhagen’s much celebrated gastro scene – it caters for all tastes and budgets, and the focus is very much on using local and seasonal produce.
Q4: How has your destination positioned itself as a leader in the meetings industry?
We’ve aimed for and managed to achieve lead positions within sustainability and legacy in meetings, innovation and foresight, and the development of destination actions such as the CopenPay initiative.
We work in close collaboration with industry partners and other key stakeholders, and throughout the years, we’ve kept our eye on the ball and worked continuously with the mentioned themes and agendas.
Add to this fruitful participation and collaboration in local and international industry networks, communities, associations etc. as well as e.g. great media relations, and you’ve got a fair idea of how we try to stay ‘top of mind’ in the industry and innovative within certain fields of expertise.
Q5: What are the biggest challenges and opportunities you foresee in the industry over the next three years?
Good question. As the world faces uncertainties on so many levels, from geopolitical shifts to climate changes and plenty more, our industry needs to continue to tirelessly highlight the importance of mutual understanding, peaceful coexistence, and knowledge exchange between individuals, and the fact that the best communication happens when people meet face-to-face.
Meetings will continue to matter to communities, businesses, and economies across the world. The focus on green transition and on the broader societal value and impact of congresses and meetings are key. As is, for instance, risk management and overall, ensuring that tourism, including business tourism, is a force for good.
Q6: How do you engage with international event organisers and decision-makers to showcase your destination?
This work is key, of course, and done in many ways; via sales meetings and workshops, international trade shows, networks and alliances, fam-trips, digitally via campaigns and communicating through misc. channels, including SoMe – do follow us on Copenhagen CVB’s LinkedIn profile to stay updated on what’s happening in the city, new products, etc. – and via press & pr efforts, and much more…
“Copenhagen’s new tourism strategy, Copenhagen – All Inclusive, includes an ambitious climate roadmap that calls on the industry to change course.”
Q7: How is your destination innovating in the business events sector?
Copenhagen’s new tourism strategy, Copenhagen – All Inclusive, includes an ambitious climate roadmap that calls on the industry to change course. We want tourism – including business tourism – in Copenhagen to accelerate the green transformation and create enriching encounters between locals and visitors. For this to happen, we have set goals that are crucial if the industry wants to address urgent challenges related to climate change and overtourism. Our climate roadmap outlines how the Danish capital’s tourism can achieve specific emission reductions by 2030 and 2035, respectively, on its way to carbon neutrality (net zero) by 2050 at the latest.
We aim high, and we actually hope to increase the level of competition among all destinations to be greener, because at the end of the day, tourism is a global business, and it takes international efforts to turn tourism into a force for good.
In addition to the green transition agenda – and a long-term focus on meeting designs – we’ve also pioneered the positive impact agenda. Our Copenhagen Legacy Lab team, launched back in 2019, has successfully tested and finetuned our legacy framework and supported a wide range of international congresses and events in achieving their strategic objectives whilst benefiting e.g. local communities, knowledge environments, and industries.
These matters are in constant development and perceived as ongoing processes, and so we strive to keep innovating in the sector in close collaboration with our partners and other relevant stakeholders in society.
Q8: What sustainable practices have you integrated to make meetings and events more environmentally responsible?
Our local network, Meetingplace Wonderful Copenhagen, is a good example of how we collaborate and bring the local industry on common ground. Its strategy is aligned with the Copenhagen – All Inclusive strategy as well as the city´s sustainability goals. As an example, the network works actively to get as many partners as possible certified and signed up for our local sustainability manifesto, Planet Copenhagen.
Then we have concrete initiatives and tools that we develop and promote on an ongoing basis. Among these are our Sustainability Guide – a planning tool already launched back in 2021, designed to help planners make conscious strategic choices with the aim of reducing the negative impact of a business event. The hands-on guide takes the planner through miscellaneous categories (transport, food, etc.) and helps calculate the potential emissions. Very soon, a new 3.0 version will be launched with better usability and more features – so watch this space for more on this subject very soon! 😊
Another example is the hugely successful CopenPay initiative launched in summer 2024. Here, we joined forces with local partners to turn sustainable behaviour into a kind of ‘currency’ that visitors could then exchange for free experiences, a free boatride, for instance, for an hour if trash was collected on the way, free access to attractions if public transport or bikes were used to get there etc. A further developed 2025 edition is on its way and will be launched soon(!), but the point is that we strive to make sustainable behavior and enjoying unique experiences in Copenhagen two sides of the same coin for all guests.
Q9: How do you balance heritage and modernity to create an appealing business tourism experience?
From viking settlement to modern metropole, this city is a juxtaposition of old and new. With the focus on green transition also comes matters such as renovation rather than new construction, as well as the reuse and recycling of materials in construction – both are crucial methods for reducing the climate footprint and reducing resource consumption, and something which is high on the agenda in Copenhagen.
Long known as a pioneer in citizen-centric urban design and sustainability, Copenhagen holds the UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture title (2023-2026), and when we staged the UIA (International Association of Architects) congress in 2023, it was the city’s strong legacy within architecture and innovative urban development, along with our high ambitions on climate, sustainability, and liveability, that was highlighted – and this approach seems to appeal to many, including leisure and business travellers.
About Kit Lykketoft
Kit Lykketoft has been the Director of the Copenhagen Convention Bureau since 2017. Here she works to attract international association conferences, meetings, and events. Kit is focused on legacy and added societal value of congresses and events on all bottom lines. Sustainability is very high on Kit´s agenda and a long-time Copenhagen stronghold.
Prior to this, she has been a visiting research scholar at Parsons DESIS Lab in NYC, working with social innovation with the city of NY, following her eight years of building up a cross-ministerial innovation Lab within the Danish Government administration.
Find out more about initiatives in Copenhagen here.
