Sunny Singapore: claiming 17th position in the 2023 index. Photo Credit: Adobe stock/ fakruljamil
Singapore is delivering on its ambition to become a world-class
leader in sustainable tourism and events. This is according to the
Global Destination Sustainability (GDS) Index, a destination-level
programme that measures, benchmarks and improves the sustainability
strategy and performance of tourism and events destinations. The results
offer insights into the trends and the progress of global destinations'
commitment to transforming their social, environmental, supplier and
destination management offerings.
Guy Bigwood, CEO of the GDS-Movement, said that Singapore had ‘come
out of nowhere’ to claim 17th position in the 2023 Index, having jumped
18 places from its position last year. Singapore was also a finalist in
the ‘Most improved destination award’.
Of those in the top 40, only seven cities were from Asia Pacific;
alongside Singapore, these included Goyang (ranked at 14), Songkhla (in
23rd place), Melbourne (in 27th place), Sydney (29th), Bangkok (35th) and
Brisbane, ranked in 37th place
Bigwood also praised Bangkok, saying that big cities are much harder when it comes to delivering against the Index criteria.
Glory for Goyang
For the first time in the GDS-Index’s history, regional destination
leaders were identified, with Goyang, in South Korea leading the way for
the Asia-Pacific region, followed by Singapore, Songkhla (in Thailand),
Melbourne and Sydney.
When it comes to category leaders, which rank the top five
destinations across areas such as environmental, social, supplier and
destination management, Goyang scored as the only APAC destination
included, ranking third for destination management.
One hundred destinations participated in the 2023 Index and 42 new
destinations from eleven countries joined for the first time. Newcomers
from Asia-Pacific included Kumamoto and Takamatsu in Japan and Songkhla
in Thailand.
Gothenburg topped the Index for the seventh time and eight of the top
ten cities are in Nordic countries, up from seven in 2022, while 86% of
all destinations in the Index improved their score in 2023 compared to
last year.
Sydney in Australia represented by Business Events Sydney (BESydney),
was also announced as the winner of the GDS-Movement and #MEET4IMPACT
Award, which highlights a destination management organisation committed
to building positive legacy and impact through business events.
The Awards were revealed during the 2023 GDS-Forum hosted in Valencia, Spain last week.