Denmark

Tourism

Nature Impact

Sustainability strategy

Commercial impact

Nature-Based Tourism as a Driver of Ecosystem Restoration

Partner

Dansk Kyst- og Naturturisme

Services

Sustainable Growth & Commercial Impact

The Project

Denmark's green transition (Den Grønne Trepart) will convert 10% of the country's land area to nature by 2045. This creates a strategic opportunity: new natural landscapes need management models, and tourism can be one of them. The catalogue gives municipalities, destinations, developers, and investors concrete reference points for combining commercial viability with nature restoration.

Key Findings

Twelve cases, three transferable models

Nature-based tourism with active conservation (Knepp Estate, Singita Grumeti, Feynan Ecolodge), multifunctional landscapes combining farming, nature and tourism (Fattoria La Vialla, De Hoge Veluwe, Knepp), and conversion projects that turn degraded or industrial sites into nature destinations (Eden Project, Zollverein). Each is mapped directly to Danish landscape types and planning contexts.

Five success factors recur across all cases

Tourism revenue is ring-fenced for nature management; local communities are engaged as operators, not bystanders; visitor experiences are built around ecological storytelling rather than access alone; governance structures are long-term and legally grounded; and business models favor low volume and high quality over mass throughput.

The Danish context makes this both urgent and feasible

Denmark has the coastlines, marginal farmland, former industrial sites and national parks represented across the catalogue, and demand for authentic, nature-close experiences is growing among domestic and international visitors alike. The remaining gap is the investment and development models connecting tourism revenue to measurable nature outcomes.

The catalogue is a starting point, not a blueprint

The cases span luxury safari lodges in Tanzania, community-owned castles in France and rewilded farmland in England - deliberately, to show that the underlying model (tourism finances nature, nature sustains tourism) holds across geographies, ownership structures and price points.

international case studies mapped where tourism revenue funds nature restoration

transferable models identified: active conservation, multifunctional landscapes, and site conversion

success factors identified as common across all cases

of Denmark's land area to be converted to nature by 2045 under Den Grønne Trepart

Catalogue

Case Catalogue

Danish - Naturbaseret Turisme og Naturgenopretning

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Contact us for more information

Tor Hjort-Falsted

Sustainable Finance Manager

thf@upstream.partners

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Join Upstream Partners in our mission to create a sustainable, nature-positive future. By working together, we can meet international goals and protect the planet for future generations.

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