Tallinn scored 49.5 out of 100 on the Global Destination Sustainability Index in its first assessment as a tourist destination, exceeding the average for Eastern European regions (45 points). Gothenburg topped the list for the fifth consecutive year with 88.95 points, followed by Copenhagen with 85.08 and Aarhus with 82.47 points. A total of 73 destinations took part in the assessment, with an average score of 61.69 points.
Tallinn joined the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDSI) at the beginning of 2021 to assess its sustainability as a tourist destination and help promote sustainable tourism development. It is the world’s leading initiative to improve the sustainability and performance of destinations. There are 70 assessment criteria that cover topics ranging from the circular economy, greenhouse gas emissions, accessibility, inclusion, safety and security, certified sustainable hotels and restaurants and sustainability strategies in both the public and private sectors.
“Tallinn is becoming a clear leader in the Baltic when it comes to sustainability. The city has a fantastic development strategy and is taking important steps to support local tourism suppliers in integrating more sustainable practices. Despite its recent achievement of winning the European Green Capital Award of 2023, Tallinn is not resting on its laurels. The opportunity to further build the capacity of the local tourism industry is enormous, and I look forward to witnessing their progress,” said Noah Joubert, Changemaker at the Global Destination Sustainability Movement.
Evelin Tsirk, Head of Tourism, sees the GDSI as a valuable tool. “We learned where our strengths lie as a tourist destination and where we should improve to compete internationally. We will evaluate the results and discuss the most important courses of action with our tourism operators,” she added.
Find out more about Tallinn’s assessment results here. See also the GDS index results for all the assessed destinations.
