Beyond Rankings

Once a month, Helsinki Tourism and Destination Management Unit publishes a blog post on a topic related to Helsinki's tourism industry. The post in October 2024 is written by Senior Advisor Jukka Punam?ki from the Helsinki Tourism and Destination Management Unit. Jukka's responsibilities include e.g. on implementing and promoting sustainable tourism and coordinating the implementation of the Helsinki Tourism and Events Programme 2022–2026. This is our third publication in English – please enjoy! (Please note that this post also has a Finnish version.)

The EU's Directive for Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition and the Green Claims Directive might significantly change how destinations and tourism companies communicate their sustainability efforts. Everything that is communicated to the public about sustainable development must be proven in one way or another.?

Helsinki added the following goal to its Tourism and Events Programme already in 2022: Helsinki is at the forefront of sustainability, verified through indices and certifications. At the city level, this means three different tools: the national Sustainable Travel Finland program (STF), the international Green Destinations certification based on the UN:n initiated GSTC standard, and the Global Destination Sustainability Index, which measures the sustainability of one hundred international destinations and where Helsinki reached top position in October 2024.?

Let’s examine the issue from ten different perspectives:?

1. Framework for Sustainable Tourism

The aforementioned tools provide a strong foundation and framework for developing sustainable tourism in the city. Not everything can or should be invented from scratch. All three tools are based on the GSTC standard to varying degrees. Helsinki does not need to reinvent sustainable tourism.?

2. Motivation

Performing well in the index or achieving the next level in certification is motivating. A bit of friendly competition is not a bad thing.?

3. Community

All three tools also bring with them a community of like-minded people struggling with similar issues. Developing sustainability is a collective effort, and therefore collaboration and benchmarking are extremely important.?

4. Resources

If and when the city addresses all the sustainability-related questions posed by these three tools, it will have responded to a total of 760 questions. Is this a reasonable use of time? Should resources be directed toward promoting sustainability instead of reporting??

5. Proving Sustainability

There can be differing opinions about the tools, but when travellers or other stakeholders seek evidence of sustainability efforts, these are the right tools. The new EU directives will increase the demand for various certifications and other proof of sustainability.?

6. Visitors

Do visitors know the aforementioned tools? According to our understanding, not really. Does it make sense to prove things in ways that visitors do not understand?

7. Local Ecosystem

Hopefully, at this stage, most Helsinki-based tourism companies and other stakeholders are familiar with these three tools, and at least some hopefully utilize them in their work, such as in marketing or sales promotion. However, we can certainly assume that not everyone knows what, for example, the GDS index is.?

8. Prioritization

These tools contain a total of 760 questions. Many of these cover topics that do not seem very relevant from Helsinki's perspective. One requirement is, for instance, to reduce light pollution. This issue is important in itself, but is it really the priority for Helsinki? If we want to advance in certification, we need to take action. Practically, this means that our tourism and destination services unit should start addressing the light pollution issue in the metropolitan area. I don't believe that this would be the correct allocation of resources. Perhaps the issue of light pollution is more relevant to others than large cities??

9. Unattainable Requirements

Helsinki will likely never achieve the highest level of the Green Destinations certification, simply because it is too demanding. This is even though Helsinki is arguably at the forefront of sustainability development. It can be extremely frustrating to strive towards a goal that feels so far away. The same applies to the Sustainable Travel Finland program. Although Helsinki is currently the world's most sustainable travel destination according to the GDS index, it doesn't yet have what it takes for the STF destination label.

10. What Then?

What happens once the top spot in the index is achieved? What next? Is the world ready? Or what if we drop from the top spot next year? Will we then have failed? How does a destination ranked 83rd experience the benefits of the index??

Important Questions – Fewer Answers

It is clear that indices and certifications offer various benefits. But at the same time, it is possible that they do not guide actions in the right direction or that the effort put into them is not worth it. This is a discussion that needs to be had with all tourism industry stakeholders. We must be particularly cautious about this, as it is clear that the EU's new directives affect a broad range of the tourism sector in the future.?