Top 40 Cities
The GDS-Index assesses Destination Management Organisations (DMOs), City Convention Bureaux (CVBs), Municipalities, Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs), National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) and tourism boards based on their sustainability efforts across four key areas: Destination Management, Supplier, Social Progress, and Environmental Performance. The top 40 cities of the GDS-Index that score the highest in these categories are recognised as sustainability leaders moving towards regeneration.
DMO Performance
A DMO refers to the body that is officially tasked with managing and promoting tourism (leisure and business) within the destination. DMOs work with local stakeholders, businesses, and communities to enhance the visitor experience while balancing the needs of the environment and residents. The GDS-Index focusses on 29 evaluation questions for the DMO, spanning strategy, policy, certifications, governance, marketing and measurements.
Supplier Performance
Supplier Performance focuses on evaluating the sustainability commitment and performance of the local meetings and tourism industry supply chain. The assessment is conducted through a set of 16 questions that cover various aspects including airports, events agencies, hotels, venues, and restaurants.
Social Progress Performance
The destination’s social progress is closely monitored across 15 key indicators that cover a range of important topics including SDG integration, corruption, personal safety, access to information and communication, health and wellness, inclusivity, and funding mechanisms. To gather data and ensure a fair and accurate assessment, external sources such as the Social Progress Imperative Index and Corruption Perceptions Index are used.
Environmental Performance
The Environmental Performance assessment comprises 20 questions that evaluate a city’s performance for its policies and infrastructure. This includes various factors the city’s commitment to climate change, its carbon emissions, its use of renewable energies, its management of resources and water, the quality of its public transport, its air pollution levels, and biodiversity.
Key Highlights
The top 40 cities that score the highest in these categories are recognised as sustainability leaders moving towards regeneration. All cities have demonstrated outstanding efforts and have shown a strong commitment to creating a positive impact on their city, its residents, and visitors. We hope that continued dedication and leadership from these cities will inspire other destinations around the world to join the movement towards a more sustainable future. You can browse the top 40 list below, which includes in-depth information on each destination’s sustainability initiatives and progress.
Scroll or mouse over the graphs below to see more detail.
Gothenburg, Sweden 91.29%
Helsinki, Finland 92.94%
Copenhagen, Denmark 90.35%
Ranking and Results
Click on the down arrow at the end of each destination to see more detail.
Destinations showing the same score are separated at the third or fourth decimal place. No two destinations in the 2026 GDS-Index have exactly the same score.
