Conférence au World Trade Center
The Marseille Metropolitan Tourism and Congress Office

Enters the GDS Index Program

The Metropolitan Congress Office, an integral part of the Tourist Office, aims to include Marseille in the GDS Index at the end of 2021. The GDS Index is an international ranking of good practices which makes it possible to obtain a score expressed in %.

Published on 22 February 2021

Towards more sustainable business tourism

GDS-Index (Global Destination Sustainability Index) is a performance improvement program aimed at making the business tourism and events industry more sustainable.

To do this, the GDS helps destinations to develop effective strategies and practices in favour of the sustainable development objectives of its Index. This approach contributes globally to the quality of life in the region and naturally enriches the quality of the reception and the experience of its visitors.

Launched in 2016, the GDS Index now lists 54 cities around the world, 3 of which are French: Lyon, Bordeaux and Nantes.

Referencing criteria

Entering the GDS Index involves putting in place strategies and corrective actions focused on the social, economic and environmental development of events and the tourist industry, since business tourism attracts a large number of people in a short period of time. Each of these categories includes several criteria on which the GDS Index is based to devise its global ranking of destinations:

  • The environment: air quality, greenhouse gases, transport etc.
  • The social: accessibility, inequalities, ethics, corruption index etc.
  • The destination’s service providers: eco-labels, ISO 20121 standards, etc.
  • The certification of the destination and the strategies deployed regarding sustainable development and support for the client in organizing sustainable events.
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