en
X
ar Arabic zh-CN Chinese (Simplified) da Danish nl Dutchen Englishfi Finnishfr Frenchde Germanit Italianja Japaneseko Koreanno Norwegianpt Portugueseru Russiansl Slovenianes Spanishth Thai
FEELING THE PULSE WEBINAR
Using Events to Catalyse Regeneration and Impact
Discover how events can benefit people, place, and planet, and improve business
Register

7 Feb, 10h00 CET Register

8 Feb, 17h00 CET
GDS-Academy
Learn to create more magnetic messaging from 15 Feb
Discover tools to sharpen and soften storytelling to create more compelling sustainability marketing campaigns
Enrol now Watch the video
GSD-Academy
Learn to transform destination management from 2 March
Take a 4-month journey to catalyse investment, generate jobs, develop knowledge, equitably distribute prosperity, and deliver unforgettable visitor experiences
Enrol now Watch the video
GDS-Movement
Destination Sustainability Awards 2022
See the 2022 GDS-Index Leadership, Most Improved, and GDS-Movement Innovation award winners, announced live at the 61st ICCA Congress
Read More Press Release
GDS-Movement
The 2022 GDS-Index results and GDS-Awards winners are live
Discover the Top 30 destinations and who grabbed a trophy this year!
Results Awards
GDS-Movement
2022 GDS-Index Report: Raising the Bar
Get into the results, trends, and insights of the world's leading benchmarking and performance improvement programme for business tourism and events destinations.
Download the report
GDS-Consulting
Does your sustainability strategy need help?
Let us empower your collaborative advantage!
Find out more Enquire now
GDS-Index
Methodology
Supporting a more regenerative tourism and events industry
View our Methodology
GDS-INDEX
Advanced Search
Search and compare destinations' sustainability ranking and performance
Advanced Search
The GDS-Movement unites and enables destination management professionals to create flourishing and resilient places to visit, meet, and live in. Our mission is to co-create sustainable and circular strategies, mindsets, and skillsets that enable destinations of the future to thrive, and society and nature to regenerate.

What do we do?

We work with pioneering municipalities, national/regional destination management organisations, and convention bureaux, to co-create their tourism and events strategies, benchmark, and improve their sustainability performance, and transform their value chains in order to catalyse regeneration.

GDS-Index
GDS-Index
The GDS-Index is the leading sustainability benchmarking and improvement programme for destinations around the world. It is used to assess current social and environmental performance of a destination, and then to drive improved performance. It is a powerful tool for clients to assess the sustainability of destinations to visit or meet in.
Find out more
GDS-Consulting
GDS-Consulting
Having worked with over 78 destinations, we understand the journey needed to transform a destination’s visitor economy into a regenerative force. Our role is to support destination management organisations on this journey, helping to define a vision and strategy, build capacity, engage stakeholders, and communicate efforts.
Find out more
GDS-Forum
GDS-Forum
The GDS-Forum is a meeting of minds that brings together tourism and event management professionals to exchange knowledge, share best practices and stimulate innovation about the creation, management and marketing of more regenerative, resilient and sustainable destinations.
Find out more
GDS-Academy
GDS-Academy
The GDS-Academy provides leading-edge training for event and destination management professionals to turn sustainability concepts into action. Check out our upcoming courses to stay ahead of the curve and learn about regenerative systems thinking and operational practices.
Find out more
GDS-Insights
GDS-Insights
We analyse the latest trends and research new opportunities to produce fresh insights that guide decision making and catalyse transformation towards a sustainable and regenerative future.
Find out more
Find your sustainableDestination
No destination found
Latest Insights
Blog
How to Get Traction to Create Enduring Value with Sustainability Projects – a Discussion
Blog
How to Get Traction to Create Enduring Value with Sustainability Projects – a Discussion
GDS-Movement and Meet4impact changemakers, Jessica Vandy and Alexis Kereluk, and Simpleview's Future Tourism Group lead, David Peacock, discuss how to how to build momentum and action to develop lasting positive value through sustainability efforts that continuously support more regenerative tourism on the Future of Tourism podcast.
Read more
27 January 2023
35 Views
Blog
From Oath to Action: a Medical Event Sharpens Sustainability Contributions
Blog
From Oath to Action: a Medical Event Sharpens Sustainability Contributions
An association for cataract surgeons ensures its events have a more positive social, environmental, and economic impact through measurement and strategy
Read more
24 January 2023
158 Views
Blog
Raising the Bar – A 2022 Recap of GDS-Movement and Our Work
Blog
Raising the Bar – A 2022 Recap of GDS-Movement and Our Work
After a full year of radical collaboration, continuous improvement, and enthusiastic innovation, GDS-Movement is celebrating all stakeholders. See what we achieved together.
Read more
15 December 2022
194 Views
Blog
Changemaker Check-in: Leading the Future, with Bella Shahsuvaryan
Blog
Changemaker Check-in: Leading the Future, with Bella Shahsuvaryan
A contemplative reflection from Bella Shahsuvaryan, a Global Destination Sustainability Movement Changemaker, inspired by the 2022 GDS-ICCA-CityDNA Certificate in Regenerative Destination Management.
Read more
5 December 2022
401 Views
Blog
Press Release: 2022 Global Destination Sustainability Index and Awards announcement
Blog
Press Release: 2022 Global Destination Sustainability Index and Awards announcement
The world’s leading destination sustainability benchmarking and improvement programme, the Global Destinations Sustainability Index (GDS-Index), announced its 2022 results and award winners at the 61st ICCA Congress in Krakow on the 9 November 2022
Read more
6 November 2022
998 Views
Blog
Snapshot: the 2022 Global Destination Sustainability Index Results in brief
Blog
Snapshot: the 2022 Global Destination Sustainability Index Results in brief
The 2022 data is in! Destination management organisations around the world are stepping up, scaling up, and speeding up their sustainability contributions.
Read more
279 Views
“The GDSM is a fantastic initiative that motivates and inspires our destination and stakeholders to engage in sustainable practices. It is a movement that meets destinations where they are and manages to consider the uniqueness and different prerequisites of the cities, its surroundings and its tourism operators. Besides that, it has given us a platform to monitor our progress and a place to showcase our successes and our position in the market in terms of sustainable tourism management.”
Victoria Barton - Project Manager, VisitAalborg
The GDSM is an inspiring gathering of destinations, driven by the same strong desire to become more sustainable. This powerful network of determined, highly-qualified professionals, helps us build a greener global industry. The benchmarking platform is an efficient tool to identify a destination's strength and its weaknesses, and improve its actions for the years to come.
Amélie Déchénais - Convention Bureau Manager, Bordeaux
The GDS-Index is a unique example of how collaboration, including the sharing of best practices and expertise, can improve performance of destinations for the benefit of both our clients and local communities. It has provided us with opportunities and inspiration that has helped position Copenhagen as a leader in sustainable practices.
Kit Lykketoft - Director of Convention, Copenhagen