Galway has been named one of the greenest cities in the world to host a business event in a piece of good news for the hospitality industry.
The latest Global Destination Sustainability Index saw Galway climb five places from last year to rank as the 15th most sustainable city to host a business event in the world.
The GDS Index is a rating system designed to recognise responsible practices in the business tourism and events industry.
It is compiled by measuring and comparing the social and environmental sustainability strategies, policies and performance of participating cities around the world.
This index helps event planners choose destinations
Galway Convention Bureau, which lead the city’s application for its place on the GDS Index, welcomed the news of Galway’s advancement up the rankings.
“We can now market Galway as a sustainable destination to the global events industry which may help secure future sustainable conference business to Galway,” said Rose Finn, General Manager of GCB.
“We are looking to improve at getting better all the time our aim is to see Galway breaking into the top five in the next 2-3 years.”
“Working with our industry partners as a collaborative effort, and leading the way Galway can become a world leader and set the start for sustainable green business tourism.”
Ireland’s green credentials are on strong display in this year’s GDS Index with three cities placing in the top 20.
Other than Galway, Dublin and Kerry both featured on the list at 12th and 18th place respectively.
Sam Johnston, Manager of Fáilte Ireland’s Convention Bureaux of Ireland, added his congratulations to the Galway Convention Bureau on the city being recognised for its “outstanding green credentials”.
“The fact that every region has ranked on the Index, with strong increases in the scores, is testament to our sustainable approach to developing business tourism across the country.”
“Fáilte Ireland recently presented its 2020 plans to industry that included a range of initiatives around sustainability.”
In the past awards were given to individual cities for the greatest improvement year on year.
However ,since this year Galway, Kerry, Dublin and Shannon all made substantial gains, it was decided to give Ireland an improvement award at a national level.
