Sustainable Belfast
Belfast is recognised by the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) as a city committed to sustainable development and growth.
Belfast - A sustainable destination
Collaborative efforts of Belfast’s tourism and events industry to become more sustainable has helped the city secure the position of 11th in the world in the 2023 Global Destinations Sustainability Index (GDS-Index). The GDS Index evaluated Belfast on four key areas:
- Environmental strategy and infrastructure
- Social sustainability performance
- Industry supplier support
- Strategy and initiatives of city DMMO
This
follows the launch of Belfast’s Resilience Strategy, the city’s first climate plan,
which outlines 30 transformational programmes to transition the Belfast City
Region to an inclusive, zero-emissions, climate-resilient economy within a
generation.
Changing the menu. For good.
Visit Belfast fended off global competition to take home the 2022 GDS-Movement’s Innovation Award for its pioneering social impact project, Changing the Menu. For Good. beating a shortlist of five destinations that included the Faroe Islands, Helsingborg in Sweden, Valencia in Spain and Washington DC.
Spearheaded by Visit Belfast, the initiative enlisted the help and support of the city’s venues, caterers, and event organisers to help tackle food poverty by directly raising funds and supplies for local food banks and charities. Founding partners include Hastings Hotels, Queen’s University Belfast, Conference Partners International, Crowne Plaza Belfast, Hospitality Belfast, Eventful, ICC Belfast and Titanic Belfast.
The judges felt that Belfast’s Changing the Menu. For Good. was the most scalable, modifiable, and maximally impactful of the top five finalists’ projects.
GREEN TOURISM SCHEME
ICC Belfast corporate partner, Visit Belfast, has also been awarded bronze accreditation from Green Tourism, in recognition of its focus on developing sustainable practices within the organisation and driving the city’s tourism ambitions to deliver key sustainable tourism initiatives.
In
addition to launching a new sustainability policy, Visit Belfast has developed
a new business events sustainability framework for event organisers to
encourage green tourism throughout the events and conferencing sector. Through
this initiative, Visit Belfast aims to increase the number of inbound business
events delivered against dedicated sustainability and legacy targets to 80% by
2025.
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