Driving Regional Sustainability Performance GDS-Regional Index

Connecting regional and local leadership for collective impact

Who is GDS-Regional Index for?

The GDS-Regional Index is for regions that want to bring local sustainability efforts together into a shared, measurable, and strategic approach.

It supports regional tourism organisations, national tourism organisations, convention bureaux, destination networks, and public-sector bodies working with multiple local DMOs, municipalities, suppliers, and partners.

The programme is especially relevant for regions that want to align strategies, benchmark collective performance, strengthen collaboration, and use data to guide policy, planning, communication, and action.

You do not need to have everything in place before joining. What matters is the commitment to work together and turn regional ambition into measurable progress.

What does the GDS-Regional Index offer

Connect regional and local priorities
Support local sustainability action
Turn local insights into regional impact
Engage communities, suppliers, and municipalities and local DMOs

Join GDS-Regional Index

Are you eager to redefine your destination’s future?

Here is what to expect on the GDS-Regional journey

Onboarding: We start with introductory meetings to thoroughly orient your team in the journey.

Toolbox: We provide you with a toolbox of guides, templates, and video tutorials about data collection in the online management system, Omni.

Collaborate: You can delegate GDS-index criteria and access to people inside and outside of your organisation.

Feedback: We review and provide you with feedback and answer all your questions during the benchmarking submission process.

Support: You can add additional consultancy hours to your package for strategy development, specific projects or goals, workshops, academy courses, or advisory meetings to your plan.

Overview: You have a live dashboard where you can monitor your submission, see all your benchmarking results, and analyse your destination’s sustainability performance-

Recommendations: Once benchmarking is complete, we provide you with a “Performance Improvement Report”. This is a detailed review of your sustainability efforts that identifies opportunities and strengths, and offers a tailored list of recommendations based on your destination’s unique attributes.

Best practice: We provide you with helpful examples of vetted best practices to support and develop your sustainability contributions. Our database includes over 300 recent case studies from sustainable tourism and events around the world.

Start now: Reach out to us if you are ready to take the next step on your sustainability journey.

Join GDS-Regional Index

Finding the right plan for you

Standard Plan

– Specifically for RTOs or regional CVBs
– Performance Improvement Report and presentation
– Featured on ‘GDS-Regional Index Participant’ page on gds.earth
– Right to use of ‘GDS-Regional Index Participant’ logo
– Community access to “Feeling the Pulse” webinars and online forums
– Participation in the annual GDS-Index Awards at the GDS-Forum
– 6 hours of benchmark coaching support for your needs

Premium Plan

For destinations seeking deeper engagement and tailored support

– All Standard Plan benefits, plus:
– 28 hours of dedicated coaching for benchmarking, strategy, and sustainability action
– Enhanced data analysis and interpretation support
– Ongoing expert guidance to strengthen long-term destination performance

National Plan

Bespoke services for Municipalities, RTOs, NTOs, rolling out GDS-Index participation across several cities and regions, including a dedicated regional view in Omni.

– For NTOs supporting multiple destinations
– Bespoke programme design to roll out GDS-Regional Index participation across several cities and regions
– A dedicated regional dashboard in Omni to track collective progress and impact
– Group capacity-building sessions for participating destinations
– Joint communications, learning forums, and recognition opportunities
– Flexible packages tailored to the size and needs of your network

GDS-Regional Index Participants

Each of these destinations is advancing its sustainability journey – connecting existing initiatives, building new skills, and creating momentum for long-term change. Together, they represent a growing global community committed to regeneration and responsible tourism.