Helsinki has been named the world’s most sustainable destination for a third year running, but the 2026 Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) shows the rest of the world catching up fast, with the wider field posting its best results since the index began in 2016.
The Finnish capital scored 92.94% to finish ahead of Gothenburg and Copenhagen, the same top three, in the same order, since 2024. The margin at the top is narrowing, though, with Copenhagen the only one of the three to improve its score this year. Aarhus climbed three places to fourth, followed by Aalborg in fifth, with Glasgow (6) and Belfast (8) flying the flag for the UK and Reykjavik holding on to tenth.
The big news is further afield. Sydney and Montreal have both broken into the top ten, in seventh and ninth. Sydney is now the leading destination in Asia-Pacific, while Montreal made history as the first destination outside Europe to top one of the index’s four categories outright, setting a record score in Destination Management. Fellow Canadian city Victoria rose to 15th, and North America made the biggest regional gains of the year.
Bremen was named the most improved destination, gaining 22.3 percentage points in only its second year of benchmarking. The German city has since placed sustainability at the heart of its new Tourism Strategy 2030+, which aims to make the visitor economy more sustainable, digital and resilient. Spain also had a standout year. Madrid made the biggest leap in the rankings, climbing 28 places to 21st, while Valencia rose 26 places to 29th. The Malverns, Sapporo, Edmonton and Flanders also made it into the Top 40.
Nearly nine in ten destinations assessed in both 2025 and 2026 improved their scores, pushing the overall average to a record high. The gap between the top ten and the rest of the field is now the narrowest it has ever been since the index began, and competition for places in the Top 40 has never been tighter. For event planners, the supply chain is catching up too, with the share of certified hotels, convention venues and event agencies all up sharply since 2023. Certified event agencies have more than doubled in that time.
“The GDS-Index shows what happens when benchmarking becomes a catalyst for change,” said John Elkington, sustainability pioneer and author. “As more destinations improve, the opportunity is to turn this momentum into deeper systems transformation. By influencing the interconnected systems behind tourism and events, destinations can accelerate the shift from sustainability to regeneration, creating places that are more resilient, prosperous, and fit for the future.”
Guy Bigwood, CEO and chief changemaker at GDS-Movement, says the 2026 results are about “both excellence and momentum”, with the leaders continuing to raise the bar while the wider community accelerates behind them.
The full 2026 GDS-Index results and insights are available in the report, Spark to Scale, here.