Project Description
Project duration: 2019-2021
Conference Tourism is a major business sector; according to the International Congress & Convention Association, it has witnessed a rapid growth during the last decade. Although the conference & events industry is highly contributing to Cyprus economy, at the same time the arrival of hundreds of participants can overwhelm the local infrastructure, creating a significant amount of waste and generating a large amount of greenhouse gases, which leave behind a big carbon footprint.
Stakeholders involved in the sector need to understand the carbon impact of the Conferences & Events industry and undertake the responsibility of keeping the positive impact higher than the negative by educating themselves and by using the right tools to plan and manage their conferences/events in a sustainable way. Adapting sustainability in planning conferences/events will lead to financial advantages, environmental improvements, social benefits, the creation of a positive image for the stakeholders involved and help raise awareness of climate change issues and actions that must be taken to reduce or offset greenhouse gas emissions.
Although currently there are several sustainability standards and tools available in the market to help measure and track the overall sustainability of an event, Cypriot enterprises in the tourism industry are not utilizing them effectively for many reasons; lack of sustainability awareness, insufficient legal framework & policy enforcement, misconceptions about the cost of sustainability adoption and lack of easy “all-in-one” friendly user tools.
The Sustainable Conferences and Events Project
The project aims in developing and delivering all-in-one, easy to use, consistent and complete tools, to enable Top Kinisis and other organizers successfully plan and manage Sustainable Conferences and Events in Cyprus. Furthermore, the project will cooperate with the corresponding authorities to develop a Legal Framework and Policy Enforcement regarding sustainability.
Leading Organization: Top Kinisis.
A tourism organization with access to the local and international markets and with immense experience in tourism and in particular the organization of big and high profile conferences and events.
Partner: AKTI Project and Research Centre.
A research organization that has been working on sustainability in Cyprus for over 15 years and has developed strong ties with the island’s hospitality industry through initiatives aiming to increase the environmental performance of these establishments.
The project is funded by the Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus, under the Restart 2016-2020 Funding Program.