Sustainable tourism in Aalborg

In order to attract more environmentally minded visitors to Aalborg in Denmark, the official tourist agency of Aalborg -VisitAalborg - has begun the process of planning and writing a new concept and a new section for the website, labeled Green Aalborg.

The vision is to present in different categories on this site all initiatives in Aalborg that can be considered sustainable or green. Currently, the works on the four categories: Transportation, Shopping and Dining, Staying and General Initiatives are carried out. Within the Transportation it is emphasized how many venues of importance or interest in Aalborg are within walking distance of each other. The city bike service is promoted with information on how to borrow one of 135 public high quality bikes. It is also explained how the environmental zone covering the entire city center requires all the city busses to have particle filters.

The Shopping and Dining category will be about a Green Shop initiative, and contains a list of shops that have the Green Shop certificate. Any shops or restaurants that are organic or in other ways seek to benefit the environment will also earn a mention here. Staying is the category for those of Aalborg's hotels that have - earned environmental labels or certifications or have other sustainable initiatives, like one that buys and conserves an area of rainforest for each guest for example.

Lastly, General Initiatives is a more general informative category, describing the city's green initiatives, participation in EU-funded environmental programs, etc. These may not necessarily relate directly to the actions of the visitor but serve more as additional information for the interested reader.

With these four categories, the visitors are acknowledged with ways in which they can make their stay in Aalborg as sustainable as it is possible for us to offer. This is done both to attract visitors who are conscious of their environmental impact and wouldn't otherwise have come, and to encourage other visitors to support the green and sustainable initiatives in the city. By promoting only businesses that act sustainably on this part of the website, also other local businesses may be convinced to do the same; for the sake of tourism as well as for the sake of our environment.