The Chair of Nova Transició Verda of the University of Valencia collaborates with Visit Valencia and the Ajuntament de Valencia in the proposal to incorporate the city into the Global Destination Sustainability Movement (GSM) as a sustainable tourist destination.
The Chair of Nova Transició Verda of the University of Valencia begins in 2021 by collaborating with Visit Valencia and the Valencia city’s council in the elaboration of the proposal for Valencia, as a tourist destination, to join the Global Destination Sustainability Movement (GSM). The GSM Destination Sustainability Index is a program of comparative evaluation and performance improvement in terms of tourism sustainability, both of the destinations themselves and of the tourism entities that make up them.
Valencia has been the first city in the world to calculate the carbon footprint of tourist activity. This process must be complemented by new proposals that will help the city, as a tourist destination, effectively move forward to be a sustainable destination and city.
As Emiliano García, Councilor of Tourism and President of Visit Valencia, points out, «Valencia has started the path to tourism sustainability with very clear and very ambitious objectives. Our reference project is to become a Carbon Neutral Destination in 2025, although however, there are many initiatives, which, from a social, economic and environmental perspective, we are promoting» and, adds, that «joining the GDS Movement will allow us to evaluate our initiatives, access new tourist knowledge through its methodology, and share the 'expertise' that Valencia already has in terms of sustainability so that , together with other destinations and tourism entities, let us move forward in favour of more integrated and inclusive tourism».
From the Chair, we are carrying out the necessary research to evaluate the indicators corresponding to the Global Destination Sustainability Index. This research will allow us to evaluate in detail (69 indicators) and compare our city with leading cities such as Sydney, Helsinki, Oslo, Zurich, Brussels, Montreal, Prague and Vienna. The objective is that these indicators serve as the basis for a continuous proposal for improvement in the field of tourist destination Valencia.
This project, initiated from Visit Valencia, aims to involve companies and agents operating in this tourist destination. From a point of view of the body that drives it, it is vitally important that Visit Valencia promotes this process.
- Press release: Ajuntament de València
- Press release: GDS
