whitepaper Archives - EDGE Venues

The Global Destination Sustainability Index’s Whitepaper highlights trends and strategies undertaken by 47 leading cities to become regenerative hubs for economic, social and environmental development.

At the European Cities Marking Conference, the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) released their third Whitepaper that details the case studies, data analysis and the actions taken by 47 Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) and municipalities to become destinations of choice for meetings, events and business tourism.

The whitepaper defines six converging mega trends that present destinations and the Event Industry with opportunities to improve their performance and adapt to the risks presented by climate breakdown, ecocide, demographic shifts, social change and digitalisation.

It highlights four fundamental building blocks for DMOs to become sustainable destination stewards and changemakers and defines eight tactics on how destinations can integrate sustainability into their core strategy and become leaders in future-oriented collaboration.

According to MCI’s CEO Sébastien Tondeur, “Scientific predictions about the rate and effect of human impact on climate and our living planet are increasing in certainty and accuracy. As an industry we need to step up, scale up and speed up our sustainability efforts. Destinations are key to the transformation of our industry, and the GDS-Index is an important catalyst helping them transform.”

Petra Stusek, ECM President, comments that “Destination Management Organisations are evolving into destination stewards and changemakers. They are progressively taking a bigger role in accelerating their city’s sustainable development plan. Through this report the GDS-index is sharing best practice and pieces of wisdom with the ultimate goal of supporting other destinations to focus on sustainable growth.”

Senthil Gopinath, CEO of ICCA, comments: “ICCA is proud to provide strategic support to the GDS-Index and contribute to the ever-growing sustainability of the global meetings industry. Alongside our global community of member-suppliers and international associations, we continuously seek to ensure every aspect of our strategic planning, events and general activities strongly adheres to and promotes best practices in sustainability.”

Carina Bauer, CEO of IMEX Group, mentions that “the economic, social and environmental significance of the Events Industry is massive. We could influence safe and fair working conditions for 26 million jobs, direct $1.5 trillion USD towards more responsible supply chains, and inspire 1.5 billion participants to action. Our industry has a decisive role in the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its 17 SDGs. The next couple of years represent a serous tipping point for us all – and for the generations to come.”

Guy Bigwood, Managing Director of the GDS-Index adds: “Driven by concerned students, citizens, local governments and corporations a new era of sustainability is rising, and will touch every corner of the events industry. We believe that a better and more restorative global future lies in urban innovation and collaborative action. The GDS-Index plays a key role to engage, inspire and enable destinations to become more sustainable places to visit, meet and thrive in.”

The whitepaper is available for download.

The Meetings Industry Association (mia) recently kicked off its campaign encouraging the business meetings and events industry to use less single-use plastic, with a roundtable discussion.

Key discussions from the debate, which is being championed by mia chair Kay England, included engaging government, metrics and benchmarking, addressing cost issues, sharing best practice and working collaboratively with other sustainability leaders.

The roundtable was the industry’s first debate focusing on the issues and opportunities facing the sector. It aims to reach caterers, hotels, venues and suppliers in the business meetings and events industry across the UK.

Industry panellists shared ways they were operating more sustainably. Ivor Turner, general manager at The Lensbury, described how sales dropped by 50 per cent when they initially removed plastic bottles from their vending machines – until they educated guests.

He said: “People aren’t as green as they make out to be. People have habits and having the tin didn’t register. As soon as we put the reason up, the sales went back up.”

The discussion turned to the importance of agreed and set metrics for measuring sustainability, as well as introducing official accreditation for venues and suppliers.

Jane Longhurst, chief executive of the mia, commented: “Demonstrating the impact and your savings is what I think the mia needs to take responsibility for. Helping people with a template or something that says ’this is how you measure it, this is how you take it to your client and this is your saving’ will be key, because you’ve got to sell it to the accountant as well.”

After the debate, mia chair Kay England, said: “It was fantastic to have some of the leading minds in the industry and sustainability sharing their passion, expertise and ideas on turning the tide on single-use plastic during our initial roundtable.

“Their commitment and enthusiasm has helped further fuel the mia’s desire to effect positive change. We are now finalising the framework of the campaign and compiling a whitepaper.”

To find out more about the mia, visit www.mia-uk.org.

Tag: whitepaper

Creating better places to live, meet and thrive in

Leading industry figures gather for mia sustainability conference

The Meetings Industry Association (mia) recently kicked off its campaign encouraging the business meetings and events industry to use less single-use plastic, with a roundtable discussion.