GDS-Movement, which publishes the well-known annual GDS-Index that assesses DMOs, CVBs, NTOs, regional tourism organisations and tourism boards on their sustainability efforts, will soon launch a simplified programme for tourism destinations that are just starting out on their regenerative tourism journey.
Named GDS-Index Lite and set to launch in September, the programme adopts a 28-point assessment criterion – a much smaller set than the regular GDS-Index that comes with 77 questions and 300 sub-questions.
Guy Bigwood, CEO and chief changemaker at GDS-Movement, told TTG Asia that the 28 checkpoints were identified through data analysis with the University of Exeter and proven to bring about the biggest positive change to the city.
The 28-point assessment criteria comprise “basic stuff”, such as the existence of a strategy, training programme, stakeholder communication, and certification.
“We will also ask if the destination had communicated the strategy to the mayor, and require proof of that by way of a letter to the mayor and a photo. We are fanatical about evidence – everything assessed for the GDS-Index and GDS-Index Lite have to be backed up by evidence,” said Bigwood.
Explaining the need for a lightweight version of the GDS-Index, Bigwood said: “We realised that there are a lot of cities around the world that are not able to handle that sort of immense change (required by the regular assessment programme), and we don’t want to leave them behind.”
The GDS-Index Lite benchmark will not be made public – results will only be communicated to participating destinations.
A tourism destination could make progress on the regular GDS-Index over three to five years, subject to committed resources, ambition and alignment with the city’s goals. With the GDS-Index Lite programme, tourism destinations could see progress in two years.
He added that the GDS-Index Lite programme could be regarded as the startup phase. Once tourism destinations have achieved the basic requirements in regenerative tourism efforts, they could then move on to the full GDS-Index programme where “every department in the team must now be involved through proper training, guided by a proper strategy with a director who gets a budget to run it”.
The third stage in a tourism destination’s regenerative tourism journey would then be certification.
GDS-Movement, through its GDS-Academy and GDS-Consulting units, can help tourism destinations close gaps in their sustainability efforts.
When asked what common obstacles are in the journey towards regenerative tourism, he pointed to resources and stakeholder engagement.
“Someone has to commit to it, to do the work and invest the time – and this person needs sufficient management support. So, you need the CEO – ideally – or the vice president of something to support that one person,” he said.
“The second step is stakeholder engagement – getting enough people together. You need the tourism people, convention bureau people, marketing people, and data people together – that’s just in the DMO. You also need the hotel association, the restaurant association, and so on for you to ultimately build a green team.
“Once the tourism destination is able to build that team, then synchronicity starts to happen, and the magic starts to happen.”
