Glasgow Convention Bureau has been awarded the “Best Improved Destination” Award at the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Congress in Prague after it scored an impressive 94% – a 30% increase on last year’s convention bureau performance.
This follows on from the launch of its People Make Glasgow Greener campaign in May this year and the recent announcement that it had become the first convention bureau in the UK to win a Green Tourism Award, the largest certification programme of its kind.
The GDS-Index promotes the sustainable growth of international meeting destinations and responsible business tourism best practices. It evaluates the performance of cities on four key areas:
- City environmental strategy and infrastructure
- City social sustainability performance
- Industry supplier support
- Convention bureau strategy and initiatives.
Aileen Crawford, Head of Conventions at Glasgow Convention Bureau, commented, “Glasgow is working towards becoming one of Europe’s most sustainable cities by 2020 and in order to maintain our position as one of the world’s premier conference destinations we recognise the importance of enhancing our sustainable business tourism offering.
Glasgow is at the forefront of developments in the energy, sustainability and low carbon industries and in turn, this has had a hugely positive impact on the volume of conferences we’re attracting in these sectors.
This is a fantastic achievement for the city which would not have been possible without the collaboration between the city’s tourism and hospitality sectors, academic and business communities, and local government partners. It’s hugely motivating to see our efforts in this area being recognised.”
Guy Bigwood, Director of the GDS-Index, commented, “The judges and I were incredibly impressed at the remarkable efforts, creativity and progress made by the Glasgow team. Glasgow demonstrated that change can happen quickly if the Destination Management Organisation takes an active lead in bringing stakeholders together to collaborate and fast-track environmental, social and economic action in their cities.”
Andrea Nicholas, Managing Director at Green Tourism, said, “Green Tourism is very proud to be working in partnership with Glasgow Convention Bureau to help increase responsible tourism in the city. Aileen and her team have worked extremely hard to ensure that green and sustainability best practise is a key part of how the bureau operates and influences businesses in Glasgow and their prominent position on the Global Destination Sustainability Index is a true reflection of their leadership in this growing market.”
Links
http://conventions.peoplemakeglasgow.com/