GDS-index
Our commitment to sustainable tourism.
The development agency is committed to sustainable development in order to steer business tourism, its players and its events sector towards more environmentally-friendly practices.
Taking into account its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, and responding to the needs of visitors, professionals, the environment and local communities, Toulouse became the fourth French city to join the dynamic Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index).
- 17 sustainable development goals. In 2015, the Member States of the United Nations (including France) adopted “the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
- 70 GDS-Index criteria. Cities have to meet 70 criteria and are given a higher or lower score in each of them.
- 4 key areas. Environmental performance, supplier performance, social progress performance and destination management performance.
- 5 French cities involved: Lyon, Nantes, Bordeaux, Paris and Toulouse.
What is the GDS-Index ?
The Global Destination Sustainability Index is a programme for measuring, comparing and improving the sustainability strategy (environmental, social and economic) and performance of events and business tourism in tourist destinations.
It involves recognised partners in the business meetings and events industry: ICCA – International Congress and Convention Association, ICCA Scandinavia, IMEXgroup, ECM – European Cities Marketing, MCI.
The GDS-Index focuses primarily on destinations committed to business tourism and its evolution, and evaluates destinations in 4 key areas:
- Environmental performance
- Supplier performance
- Social progress performance
- Destination management performance
- The GDS-Index produces an annual ranking of the world’s most sustainable cities. To do this, cities have to meet 70 criteria and are given a higher or lower score in each of them.
ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE
17 criteria to assess the city’s performance in relation to its policies and infrastructure, such as commitment to climate change, carbon emissions, renewable energy, resource and water management, public transport and levels of air, resource and water pollution.
SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE
This category comprises 14 criteria relating to the sustainability performance of the events supply chain, including:
- Airports
- Hotels and restaurants
- Convention centres
- Event agencies
SOCIAL PROGRESS PERFORMANCE
11 criteria measure the city’s performance against Sustainable Development Goals integration indicators:
Corruption, Personal Safety, Access to Information and Communications, Health and Wellbeing, Inclusion, using external sources such as the Social Progress Index and the Corruption Perceptions Index.
DESTINATION MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE
28 criteria measure the performance and commitment to sustainability of the Destination Management Organisation: the maturity of the destination’s sustainability and regeneration strategy, leadership, communication of sustainability initiatives to support event organisers, and the stringency of destination management.
