Business Events Sydney (BESydney) has won the inaugural Global Destination Sustainability Movement (GDS-Movement) and #MEET4IMPACT Impact Award for its world-leading work creating a social impact methodology and framework for business events across Sydney and NSW.
“We are very grateful for this recognition,” BESydney CEO Lyn Lewis-Smith said.
“We committed more than a decade ago to identifying and measuring the ‘Beyond Tourism Benefits’ of business events for local and global communities.
“Now we are collaborating with those communities to reduce our environmental footprint, and to co-create and measure long-term social impact as well as economic outcomes from the business events we attract to our city.
“Thank you to our impact partners City of Sydney and Sustainable Destination Partnership and also Carmel Foley and Deborah Edwards at the University of Technology Sydney Business School for the seminal Beyond Tourism Benefits and the work that began the measurement of our impact journey more than a decade ago.
“I’d like to acknowledge our clients for working with us to develop the framework. And also to our industry partners who inspire us every day in their determination to make a difference, International Convention Centre Sydney, Arinex, Accor and the Sydney Opera House.”
GDS Movement CEO Guy Bigwood said sustainability is a systemic solution where everybody wins.
“We encourage all destinations to take their cue from these leaders and work together with us to transform tourism and events into a tool for regeneration in every destination on earth,” he said.
