Adelaide has become the fourth Australian city to join the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index).
Currently, three Australian cities (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) and a further eight in the Asia Pacific region are part of the GDS-Index. The GDS-Index is a performance improvement programme that assesses and accelerates the progress of a destination’s regenerative journey. It measures, benchmarks, and enhances the sustainability strategies, action plans, and initiatives of over 100 destination management organisations, municipal authorities, and their tourism and event supply chains.
Business Events Adelaide will coordinate Adelaide’s response to the assessment criteria, the Adelaide Convention Centre, its member venues and stakeholders within local and state government.
Business Events Adelaide’s CEO, Damien Kitto, said being assessed alongside other destinations will help build an understanding of Adelaide’s relative strengths and weaknesses.
“We are aware that sustainability issues are becoming an increasingly important consideration for business event organisers and delegates. Business event delegates visiting Adelaide often refer to our green, walkable city-in-a- park, so while we feel this is an advantage over other destinations, talking about it is no longer enough. We need to demonstrate practices that reduce the impact on our planet, especially in a country like Australia, with delegates conscious of the carbon footprint associated with their travel.”
Kitto added that working with a global authority like GDS-Movement – an international change agency that acts to catalyse socio-economic and environmental transformation in cities and regions across the world – will help Adelaide to develop action plans to build a solid sustainability profile.
The evaluation process for the 2024 GDS-Index has commenced, with the top 40 global destinations announced in October.
