Glasgow Convention Bureau has become the first ever convention bureau to win a Green Tourism Award, the world’s largest certification programme of its kind.
The go to standard for sustainable tourism, Green Tourism assesses businesses on their green credentials with Glasgow Convention Bureau awarded a ‘Silver’ grading for demonstrating a progressive approach and commitment to sustainability – the first convention bureau to receive such an award.
This announcement follows on from the launch of Glasgow Convention Bureau’s People Make Glasgow Greener campaign which aims to build on the city’s position as the seventh most sustainable conference destination in the world and the only UK city to be included in the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS – Index).
On the back of the award, Aileen Crawford, Head of Conventions at Glasgow Convention Bureau, made a further commitment to encourage Glasgow tourism businesses to develop their green credentials: “Glasgow is a working towards becoming one of Europe’s most sustainable cities by 2020 and a world-leading centre for sustainable policy, innovation and action. As the city’s ‘one stop shop’ for UK and international conference organisers, our new Green Tourism Award is an important accolade to add to the city’s credentials as a world-leader in sustainable business tourism.
One of the key components of our People Make Glasgow Greener campaign was the creation of a Sustainability Toolkit identifying green hotels, restaurants and services across the city which would be of interest to conference organisers. This has been well received by our clients as it simplifies the process of organising a ‘green meeting’ and highlights organisations who hold third party sustainability accreditations. We’re now working more closely with our partners to encourage more tourism businesses to develop their sustainability credentials and find out more about certification schemes like Green Tourism who offer a wide range of support to businesses of all shapes and sizes.”
Glasgow has a growing reputation for business and academic excellence in the energy, sustainability and low carbon industries and as a result, is attracting an increasing number of conferences in these fields.
By the end of 2018, Glasgow will have hosted 20 energy, sustainability and low carbon industry-related conferences over a 24 month period; delivering nearly 60,000 delegate days and boosting the city’s economy by more than £23 million.
Andrea Nicholas, Managing Director of Green Tourism, commented, “This is a fantastic achievement for this progressive Convention Bureau which is setting the standard for other organisations of this type across the UK. We found that highly-sustainability businesses are more likely to excel in areas of customer service as well as demonstrate significant savings resulting from reduced energy consumption. This is a great opportunity for Glasgow businesses to benefit from getting involved in this green movement.”
The Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) is a prize-winning grassroots Scandinavian initiative that evolved into the first-ever sustainability ranking for event destinations worldwide. A collaborative partnership between the International Congress and Convention Association, ICCA’s Scandinavian Chapter, IMEX and event agency MCI Group, it aims to promote the sustainable growth of international meeting destinations, highlighting best practices and responsible business tourism. In a world increasingly focused on responsible business and addressing our environmental impact, the GDS-Index helps destinations to engage clients with sustainability, align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and drive the adoption, promotion and recognition of sustainable practices in their city. Currently, 38 cities are participating in the initiative including Sydney, Kyoto, Houston, Barcelona, Geneva, Helsinki, Stockholm and Frankfurt. The objective is to have more than 100 destinations benchmarking by 2020. Find out more at www.gds-index.com.
The People Make Glasgow Greener campaign was launched in May 2017 and includes a 20 strong team of representatives from across the city’s tourism and hospitality sectors, academic and business communities, and local government. The People Make Glasgow Greener team includes representatives from the following organisations; Greater Glasgow Hotels Association, Glasgow City Council’s Land and Environmental Services department, Kabloom, Glasgow Restaurant Association, Kained Holdings, Scottish Event Campus, Strathclyde University, University of Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian University, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Scotrail, Glasgow Social Enterprise Network, Woodlands Community Development Trust, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, GCC Sustainable Glasgow, VisitScotland, Golden Jubilee, House for an Art Lover and Locavore.
To find out more about the People Make Glasgow Greener campaign please visit https://peoplemakeglasgow.com/greener
