Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, welcomes the results from the Global Destinations Sustainability (GDS) Index 2022.
Coinciding with the week that Fáilte Ireland launches its Climate Action roadmap, Ireland has excelled in the GDS Index rankings with regions across the country recognised for their ongoing proactive approach to sustainable practices in the business tourism and events industry.
The GDS Index is a performance improvement programme that benchmarks cities, towns and regions around the world based on their efforts to make tourism and events more sustainable.
The rankings are designed to help event planners choose progressive destinations with top sustainability credentials. The index is compiled by measuring and comparing the social, environmental, supplier and destination sustainability strategies, policies, and performance of participating cities across the globe.
This year, three Irish destinations have been listed in the Global Destinations Sustainability (GDS) Index Top 30. The results were announced at the 61st International Congress and Convention Association in Poland on 9th November 2022.
Kerry, Cork and Galway were ranked at numbers 13, 22 and 30 in the GDS Index global rankings while Dublin continues to compare well when set against capital cities. On a European level, results see Kerry in sixth place, Cork listed at number 10, Galway at number 13, Clare at number 18, Limerick at number 20 and Dublin at number 23.
Other leading cities to make the list include Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Glasgow and Paris.
Speaking about the results, Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Commercial Development Paul Mockler said:
“Once again Ireland has made great strides and we are delighted to have our regions recognised in the 2022 Global Destination Sustainability Index for their constant innovation and creative thinking on ways in which to reduce the MICE industry’s footprint here in Ireland.
As a world-class business events destination, Ireland’s green credentials are central to everything we do. Bursting with green initiatives, Ireland makes hosting environmentally conscious MICE activities simple.”
Under the Convention Bureaux of Ireland brand, Fáilte Ireland provide both strategic and operational direction as well as funding via service level agreements.
Prior to Covid-19, business tourism was one of the fastest growing segments of the Irish tourism industry, contributing more than €716 million annually to the economy and supporting up to 20,000 jobs. This sector is highly specialised, lucrative and high yielding for Ireland because each business tourism visitor generates almost three times the tourism revenue than that of a leisure tourist.