Ljubljana, Slovenia

Contact: Alenka Soršak

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The GDS-Index is a destination-level programme that measures, benchmarks, and improves the sustainability strategy and performance of tourism and events destinations.

The GDS-Index is aligned with international standards; UN SDGs, GSTC Destination Criteria, UNWTO.

Click here to read more about the benchmarking methodology including data collection and verification, the four benchmarking categories, governance and criteria development and performance scoring methods.

This page highlights each destinations sustainability journey and will showcase their journey.

Performance Overview

The 2023 GDS-Index comprises 69 indicators across four categories. Here is the total score and the score for the four categories for this destination.

Total

0%

Environmental

Social

Supplier

Destination Management Organisation

Environmental

Includes a city's performance pertaining to its policies and infrastructure, such as climate change commitment, carbon emissions, renewable energies, resource and water management, public transport, and air pollution levels.

Social

Indicates the performance of the city against indicators of SDG integration, Corruption, Personal Safety, Access to Information and Communications, Health and Wellness, and Inclusivity, using external sources such as the Social Progress Imperative Index, and Corruption Perceptions Index.

Supplier

Addresses the sustainability commitment and performance of the local meetings' industry supply chain, including airports, events agencies, hotels, venues, and restaurants.

Destination Management Organisation

Indicates the sustainability commitment, including questions pertaining to maturity of a destination's sustainability and regeneration strategy, leadership, communication of sustainability initiatives (to support client planners), and the accuracy of their reporting on sustainability operations.

Sustainability Journey

Summary
Environmental
Supplier
Social

Ljubljana, the proud holder of the title European Green Capital 2016, is a world-leading destination in the field of sustainable tourism. The development of sustainable tourism is Ljubljana Tourism’s overarching focus. With its green image and sustainable development strategy, Ljubljana offers excellent opportunities for sustainable tourism. Ljubljana Tourism aims to develop Ljubljana as an attractive, green and environmentally friendly destination. We are promoting a sustainable way of life and travel to both citizens and visitors of the city. The vision for the future development of tourism in the city is bold: by 2027, Ljubljana will be the world’s leading and most creative urban destination for sustainable lifestyle.

Does Ljubljana Tourism have a Sustainability Strategy?

Does Ljubljana have a sustainable destination certificate?

Does Ljubljana Tourism report on its sustainability performance?

Ljubljana is one of the greenest cities in the world, as evidenced by the fact that every person in Ljubljana has access to 542 m2 of public green space. Air pollution is steadily decreasing due to several measures transforming degraded areas into green public spaces (so far, more than 90 ha), the city center was also closed down (17 ha) to private vehicles and consequently, the black carbon concentrations decreased by as much as 70%. Several bridges were built in order to connect different parts of the city and promote cycling mobility and reduce carbon footprint. Ljubljana was also the first European capital to declare the Zero-Waste goal; with a comprehensive waste management system the city achieved the highest share of separately collected household waste in the EU (69,9% in 2022). Abundant clean and free water resources are available to everyone; water fountains are installed around the city center.

35%

OF ELECTRICITY
FROM RENEWABLES

48%

OF WASTE
RECYCLED

6804 ha

HECTARES OF GREEN
AREA PER 100 000
POPULATION

Ljubljana is implementing city management measures for sustainability and the overall quality of life in the city. This is why Ljubljana is successfully buffering tourist flows while managing its daily routines, and is continuously developing and enhancing sustainable capacities. There are more than 14,000 events every year in Ljubljana. The latter also involves organization of events, which are planned according to the instructions from a special handbook on organizing sustainable events, focusing primarily on sustainable use of food and beverage containers and waste recycling. Ljubljana's list of priorities also includes green meetings. The standards for green meetings are being set by Conventa (one of the longest-running B2B MICE events in the region) that produced special Green Handbook for regenerative events entitled: Without perseverance, no sustainability.

14%

OF HOTEL ROOMS
SUSTAINABILITY
CERTIFIED

0%

OF VENUES
SUSTAINABILITY
CERTIFIED

33%

OF PCOS/DMCS
SUSTAINABILITY
CERTIFIED

Ljubljana is in favor of actively involving the local community when it comes to shaping the tourism in the area. The citizen satisfaction surveys shows that the community has a positive attitude towards tourism. A vast majority agree that the development of tourism contributes to the development of Ljubljana. Every year, Ljubljana Tourism organises the “ Tourism Makes Ljubljana” campaign, to bring tourism closer to the residents and raise their awareness that tourism makes Ljubljana better, friendlier, more active, more cultural, more diverse, more interesting, more connected, etc. Ljubljana is also a Rainbow City as it supports its LGBT community with a “LGBT-Friendly Certificate” issued to all the businesses that contribute to an inclusive environment. People using a wheelchair have access to more than 200 municipal buildings and heritage sites. The VisitLjubljana website also provides information on the accessibility of tourist spots, hotels and restaurants in Ljubljana and the region. Municipality of Ljubljana also received the Access City Award 2023 bronze recognition from the European Commission.

SDG IMPLEMENTATION SCORE

SCORE ON SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX

SCORE ON CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX

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