PureCork Sustainability Best Practices
ABOUT VISIT CORK'S SUSTAINABILITY WORK
As a small organisation, the idea of developing a sustainability strategy can be daunting, but the hardest part is just starting to have the conversation. Things don't change overnight, but small incremental steps are important. Just some of Visit Cork's own sustainability actions over the last few years include:
- Improving Cork's score in the world's leading annual destination sustainability benchmark, the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index), from an initial score of 42.3% in 2018 to a high of 80.08% in 2025, placing Cork in 18th place out of 80+ destinations.
- Launching the Cork Tourism Green Awards in 2019, which recognises the contributions that Cork tourism businesses have made towards the sustainability agenda and inspires others.
- Developing a comprehensive Cork Tourism Accessibility Guide containing all relevant information for Cork business or leisure tourists who experience accessibility issues.
- Launching the Cork Green Hub project in 2023, a joint initiative in partnership with Cork County and City Council, funded through the Regional Waste Management Planning Offices, and focused on encouraging circular economy and proper waste management practices across the industry.
- Being shortlisted for the EU Smart Tourism Capital Awards 2024, by highlighting positive tourism initiatives throughout the region under the themes of: Sustainability; Accessibility; Creativity and Cultural Heritage; Digitalisation.
Using its wide network and influence, Visit Cork has a strong focus on partnerships and collaboration as a key means of encouraging, incentivising and facilitating the tourism and hospitality industry across the region to raise the bar on sustainability. Increasingly, we are finding that businesses starting out on their sustainability journey are looking for inspiration, and best practices from peers can motivate others.
This guide is a resource for the tourism industry, that recognises businesses that are going the extra mile to become more sustainable and hopefully inspires others to do the same. Please get in touch if you would like to have your business featured in the future.
Seamus Heaney
Head of Visit Cork
Sustainability in Cork Tourism
• Hotels that have a third-party sustainability certification (% reflects the % of hotel room stock in Cork City that is in a 3rd party certified hotel – hotels with over 25 rooms and members of Cork Convention Bureau).
• Visit Cork Green Awards, launched in 2019, recognises the contributions that Cork tourism businesses have made towards the sustainability agenda and inspires others. The most recent awards (2026) saw 18 applications, almost double the number of applications compared to two years previously!
Monitoring & Benchmarking
Awards, Nominations, Collaborations
Sustainability Resources
As well as promoting business supports, training and events that support the tourism sector in accessing information on sustainability, Visit Cork has produced a number of guides and resources that are available online:
Sustainability Resources Guide (2023)
Community Engagement and Social Sustainability Guide (2023 - revised and updated 2026)
