Monday, February 26, 2024
The GDS-Movement, a pioneering force dedicated to cultivating regenerative destinations and events worldwide, drives the GDS-Index, a groundbreaking tool at the destination level. This tool measures, benchmarks, and enhances the regenerative strategies and implementations of tourism and event destinations globally. Today marks the unveiling of the 2024 GDS-Index criteria, gearing up for this year’s benchmarking season, starting on March 25th, with over 100 dedicated destinations participating worldwide.
The refinement of the GDS-Index criteria, guided by the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice and in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and GSTC Destination Criteria, underwent a thorough six-month revision process. This process engaged various stakeholders, including past and present participating destinations, partners, the GDS-Movement team, the City DNA Sustainability Knowledge Group of European Destinations, and a Technical Advisory Committee comprising 15 experts in tourism, academia, and destination sustainability.
This year’s update introduces 12 new and enhances 28 existing criteria, totaling 77 qualitative and quantitative indicators across four performance categories: environmental, social, supplier, and destination management. These enhancements result in a more robust index, equipping destinations to tackle significant industry challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and adverse social impacts, exacerbated by ineffective legislation.
To provide a more comprehensive assessment of current sustainability performance and future strategy alignment, improvements or additions were made to sub-categories including water management, circular economy practices, short-term tourism rentals, Support systems, community perceptions, environmental efforts, visitor coordination, skill development, transportation, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
“Amidst mounting global challenges, the urgency for faster and smarter responses in tourism is clear. With destinations actively engaging in their sustainability journey, our criteria update reflects a commitment to evolution, addressing emerging issues, and emphasising regeneration. This isn’t just about improvement; it’s about propelling the industry towards a regenerative future, urgently calling for collective action to change the tourism and events industry to mitigate climate change and accelerate real action on sustainability worldwide.” – Guy Bigwood, CEO of the GDS-Movement
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024
