Glasgow Convention Bureau Launches Green Campaign to Grow Sustainable Business Tourism

Glasgow has today (Tuesday, May 16) unveiled a new ‘green conventions team’ which will champion the city’s credentials as a world-leader in sustainable business tourism.

Led by Glasgow Convention Bureau, which is part of Glasgow Life, the 20-strong team brings together representatives from across the city’s tourism and hospitality sectors, academic and business communities, and local government.

The initiative is at the heart of Glasgow Convention Bureau’s new People Make Glasgow Greener campaign, which aims to foster greater collaboration between partners and build on the city’s position as the seventh most sustainable conference destination in the world and the only UK city to be included in the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index).      

Among others, Glasgow’s new green team includes Glasgow Chamber of Commerce; the Scottish Event Campus (SEC); Glasgow Restaurant Association (GRA); Greater Glasgow Hoteliers Association (GGHA); VisitScotland, ScotRail; Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), the Woodlands Community Development Trust and Locavore Farm as well as Glasgow, Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian Universities.

Working with Glasgow City Council's Land and Environmental Services department and local seed-planting business, Kabloom; the People Make Glasgow Greener campaign will deliver bespoke ‘horticultural therapy’ packages for conference organisers interested in offering sustainable team-building activities for delegates. 

These will take place across the city’s parks and gardens, including the Woodlands Community Garden near the SEC, and include workshops on enhancing biodiversity, maintaining green-spaces and replanting Scottish wildflowers.

A toolkit identifying some of the city’s leading sustainable businesses – from hotels and restaurants to conference venues and corporate entertainment providers – has also been created to simplify the process of organising a sustainable conference in Glasgow. It aims to make it easier for conference organisers to find the services they require from suppliers with similar green objectives.

Glasgow is working towards becoming one of Europe’s most sustainable cities by 2020 and a world-leading centre for sustainable policy, innovation and action.

We’ve already made great strides in that respect, with Glasgow currently ranked seventh on the Global Destination Sustainability Index which is geared at driving the growth of sustainable conference and business events destinations worldwide. As the only UK city to be included, it’s incredibly motivating to see Glasgow recognised as a destination at the forefront of sustainability best practice and responsible business tourism.

Volunteering, gardening and planting wildflowers in Glasgow’s public spaces will enhance the city’s ‘Dear Green’ spaces and burgeoning urban agriculture networks. This innovative new initiative from the Glasgow Convention Bureau will offer Glasgow’s many conference delegates the chance to give something back while enjoying a unique and immersive experience of the city and how we care for our communities.

By the end of 2018, Glasgow will have hosted 20 energy, sustainability and low carbon industry-related conferences over a 24 month period; delivering nearly 60,000 delegate days and boosting the city’s economy by more than £23 million. 

Glasgow is really at the forefront of developments in the energy, sustainability and low carbon industries, with a growing reputation for business and academic excellence in these areas. We’re home to some of the world’s biggest energy companies and we’re internationally recognised as having one of the healthiest and most diverse energy industries globally. This in turn has had a hugely positive impact on the volume of conferences that we’re attracting in these sectors.

One such conference is the 38^th Euroheat & Power Congress, attended by nearly 500 overseas delegates, which is taking place at the SEC until Wednesday this week. 

Glasgow is at the heart of Scotland’s renewable energy industry. Companies including Sgurr Energy, ScottishPower, Star Renewable Energy and many others are based in Glasgow, with their operations extending across the UK, Europe and the world.

Scottish Renewables holds numerous events in the city throughout the year including a growing number of headline conferences. We’re proud to work with venues in Glasgow, many of which are proactively adopting sustainable practices that are very much aligned with our own goals and ambitions.

It's a responsibility for us all to ensure that we are constantly considering our impact on the environment. As always, Glasgow is pulling together as a team to make a difference and focus on looking after the environmental health of our city from which both our citizens and visitors benefit.

To remain competitive in today’s socio-economic climate, leading event destinations need to highlight more than the technical capacity of their meetings industry. They need to demonstrate how their destination adds value – for delegates, our environment and society overall. By being the first in the UK to participate in the GDS-Index, Glasgow has firmly positioned itself as a leading and responsible, destination.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• The Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) is a prize-winning grassroots Scandinavian initiative that evolved into the first-ever sustainability ranking for event destinations worldwide. A collaborative partnership between the International Congress and Convention Association, ICCA’s Scandinavian Chapter, IMEX and event agency MCI Group, it aims to promote the sustainable growth of international meeting destinations, highlighting best practices and responsible business tourism. In a world increasingly focused on responsible business and addressing our environmental impact, the GDS-Index helps destinations to engage clients with sustainability, align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and drive the adoption, promotion and recognition of sustainable practices in their city. Currently, 38 cities are participating in the initiative including Sydney, Kyoto, Houston, Barcelona, Geneva, Helsinki, Stockholm and Frankfurt. The objective is to have more than 100 destinations benchmarking by 2020. Find out more at www.gds-index.com.

• The People Make Glasgow Greener team includes representatives from the following organisations; Greater Glasgow Hotels Association, Glasgow City Council’s Land and Environmental Services department, Kabloom, Glasgow Restaurant Association, Kained Holdings, Scottish Event Campus, Strathclyde University, University of Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian University, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Scotrail, Glasgow Social Enterprise Network, Woodlands Community Development Trust, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, GCC Sustainable Glasgow, VisitScotland, Golden Jubilee, House for an Art Lover and Locavore.

• The Scottish Event Campus (SEC), which is located on Glasgow’s riverfront, holds the highest award possible – the Gold Award – for international Green Tourism and provides free city bike hire for conference delegates through Glasgow City Council’s Nextbike hire scheme – the largest in Scotland with more than 400 bikes and over 40 pick-up locations across the city. 

• Over 80% of the city's hotel bedrooms, representing more than 10,000 rooms, are within 30 minutes of the SEC and are easily accessible by public transport – including two fully electric buses which operate between the city centre and the SEC campus. Moreover, some 40% of Glasgow’s hotels have achieved a Green Tourism award.

For more information, contact:

Laura McLean, Corporate Communications Manager, Glasgow Life on +44 7960 989373 and [email protected]