Oslo ranked as one of the top 10 most sustainable destinations in the world, according to the GDS-Index
The results for the 2022 Global Destination Sustainability-Index (GDS-Index) were launched on 9th November, at the ICCA conference in Krakow. We are very excited that Oslo made it into the Top-10 list this year, climbing an impressive 20 spots in only 1 year, from 30th place in 2021 to 10th place in 2022.
– Its very motivating to see that our long-term strategic approach and commitment to sustainability is already making and impact which is being recognized. I am really proud of Oslo’s achievement and look forward to keep improving the work we have started, says Kristin Oishi, Sustainability Project Manager in VisitOSLO.
We are impressed by how much work is being done in DMOs and CVBs around the world in the field of sustainability. It clearly shows that there is an increased understanding and acknowledgement that this is something visitors, as well as decision makers - especially within the B2B market, are concerned about on and to a greater extent consider when choosing a destination.
A recognized benchmarking platform
The GDS-index is the world’s leading sustainability benchmarking and performance improvement program for destinations, and their visitor economy. In an annual performance assessment, the index looks at how the different destinations around the world work with Sustainability topics. Destinations are measured on over 70 criteria within 4 main categories: Environment, Social, Suppliers and Destinations Management (DMO). These include climate and environmental measures, aspects of value creation, how the destination works with destination development, how the businesses integrate sustainability in their work, as well as indicators within social sustainability.
Since the method is so comprehensive and thorough, it is widely recognized, especially within the meetings industry.
Dedicated and hard work lies behind
The results show that the long-term, strategic work with sustainability in Oslo is providing results that are being noticed. Since 2021, Oslo improved on all parameters in all the 4 categories. This can for instance be seen in the category for social conditions, where Oslo is now ranked as second, and in the supplier category where Oslo is now ranked as third.
We can clearly see that more and more tourism businesses in Oslo have started to work actively with sustainability measures, and an increased number have become environmentally certified in the past year.
Read more about the 2022 GDS-index results here.
Scandinavia dominates the top-10 list
It’s encouraging to see that both the Norwegian destinations, and our neighboring countries in the north performs so well in the benchmarking. In fact, 7 of the top 10 positions are Scandinavian destinations. Gothenburg is topping the list for the 6th year in a row, while our friends in Bergen impressively climbed from 21st place in 2021 to second place in 2022. Copenhagen maintains a solid position in the top 3.
This year’s achievement is very inspiring, but it is no reason to rest on our laurels. Rather the opposite. It obliges us to continue our important work with sustainable tourism development in Oslo. We would like to thank our partners and collaborators for their efforts, and not least the municipality of Oslo for their key contribution.