In all, there'll be about 8,000 more rooms over the next four years, raising supply at a rate of around 11 per cent per year, compared with a total of 6,500 rooms in the previous 17-year period.

The Copenhagen tourism board, Wonderful Copenhagen, is forecasting an annual growth rate in visitors of 3.9 per cent, raising projected hotel stays to around 7.58 million a year by 2021.

The expected increase in demand may fall short of supply. But Lars Ramme Nielsen, head of tourism at the Danish Chamber of Commerce, says giving customers more choice is well worth the risk, given that a standard room in an average hotel today can cost more than $US250 per night.

City officials say they want to build on the popularity of restaurants like Noma to lure more foodies and turn Copenhagen into the gastronomical capital of Europe. Unusually warm weather and hosting the ice hockey World Cup in May helped push arrivals in the first half of the year to a record.

With 350 kilometres of dedicated paths and lanes, Copenhagen is considered the most bike-friendly city in the world. imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo

In his column, Krugman spoke glowingly of a bike ride he made from Copenhagen to Helsingor (the Elsinor in Shakespeare's Hamlet). However, a note of caution is warranted. Danes take bike riding very seriously and the best way to anger a local as a tourist - aside from criticising the "socialist" welfare model - is to stand in the middle of one of the country's many bike lanes.

With 350 kilometres of dedicated paths and lanes, Copenhagen is considered the most bike-friendly city in the world. About a third of its citizens cycle to work on a regular basis, and rent-a-bike businesses have multiplied.

"I don't think the tourists realise how hardcore cycling in Copenhagen is," said Christian Vas, a 38-year-old Hungarian waiter who drives a typical Christiania cargo bike and who made the city his home four years ago.

Aurimas Mul, a 30-year-old business owner, notes that tourists are easy to spot on their rented bikes, so the trick is "to keep your distance, especially when I ride my racing bike".

Denmark's Finance Minister Kristian Jensen is now trying to add at least one more tourist by asking Trish Regan, the Fox Business News anchor who characterised the country as a socialist dystopia, to visit Copenhagen.

Bloomberg