Updated on 11 October at 2pm
Ranked fifth in last year's GDS-Index, Bordeaux is back where it was in 2021, in ninth place. A disappointment? Not necessarily, as Bordeaux's score has risen from 85.10 to 87.10, reflecting the city's growing involvement in a sustainable tourism strategy for hosting business meetings. And is there really anything to be ashamed of in being ranked behind the Nordic cities, pioneers in the field of 'green' tourism? Unsurprisingly, Scandinavian cities naturally top the seventh edition of the GDS-Index, with Glasgow being the only city outside Northern Europe to feature in the Top 10, along with Bordeaux.
Gothenburg with Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki in the lead, followed by Bergen, AarhusAalborg and Stockholm to round off the list: all of these cities are leading the sector as a whole by their exemplary performance. Whereas in 2019, the average performance of the Top 10 cities was below 80 - and 60 in 2016 - it is now approaching 90. A ripple effect which is one of the raisons d'être of this barometer, founded in 2016 by ICCA Scandinavia, MCI, IMEX and City Destinations Alliance, which studies the environmental performance of destinations according to a number of environmental and social criteria, or relating to the sustainable strategy of cities and the involvement of local suppliers.
" The results of the GDS-Index and their evolution demonstrate unequivocally that destination management organisations can and do drive the acceleration of economic, social and environmental transformation within their tourism and events ecosystems.said Guy Bigwood, CEO of GDS-Movement. Thanks to this irrefutable evidence, we have the key to an optimistic future for travel and events" .
An expanding GDS-Index
By providing a quantified analysis, the GDS-Index aims to give organisers reliable information on the CSR initiatives of destinations, which in turn provide them with powerful arguments against the pitfalls of greenwashing. But its authoritative opinion is also taking on greater significance by bringing together more destinations. This year, the sustainable ranking passed the mark of 100 cities agreeing to take part in the evaluation of their CSR practices, compared with 73 last year and 23 at the start. The newcomers include 12 new destinations in the United Kingdom and 17 in Canada, as well as a large number of medium-sized cities in general. At the same time, a number of cities that did not take part last year have returned for 2023, including Antwerp, Nyborg and Marseille.
Northern Europe logically dominates this ranking, French towns feature prominently apart from these, notably Lyon, ranked 13e and Paris from 25e at 21e place with a score of 80.12, compared with 74.34 last year. " Our aim this year was to achieve a score of at least 80%, and we've done it! But above all, this annual ranking enables us to clearly identify the areas for improvement on which to focus in the months ahead "said Corinne Menegaux, Managing Director of Paris je t'aime - Office de tourisme. More generally, of the top 40 cities, 17 are in Western Europe, with Belfast and Zurich among the main metropolises, with 11 of the world's largest cities.e and 12e Berlin and Brussels at 31e and 32e ahead of Barcelona (34e), Geneva (36e) and Milan (40e).
While only one North American city, Montreal, features in the Top 40, at 33e Asia-Pacific's major cities are represented by seven destinations. In this context, Singaporewhich aims to become a world leader in sustainable eventsclimbed to 17th place.e place this year. Bangkok (35e), as well as Australia's main cities with Melbourne (27e), Sydney (29e) and Brisbane (37e).
Among the 40 GDS-Index cities in the Western Europe region, a number of French destinations such as Marseille (20e), one place better than Amsterdam, or Strasbourg, which is in 23rd place.e place, just ahead of Dublin. Nantes (26e), Toulouse (29e) and Nice (35e) complete the picture.
