WE NEED
TO DO
BETTER
59
Column
Julia Charles-Wiginton discusses
the UK’s failure in representing
sustainable venues
sustainable venue is key
to creating a
sustainable event, but
finding one is hard
because the UK venue-finding sites
do not cater for this growing
demand. We have a multitude of
venue-finding sites, some
commercial, some representing
venue consortiums, and many
showcasing different destinations,
but not a single one will tell you
which venues are sustainable, and
quite frankly we need to do better.
Over in Berlin, they have got it
spot on. The Visit Berlin website
puts the UK venue-finding sites to
shame in my view. Like every
destination portal, it offers a search
engine with all the usual criteria
from which to choose to narrow
down a search, but unlike other
portals they list the sustainability
credentials of each of their venues
and display this on the first page.
Each venue has been rated
according to where they are in their
sustainability journey and given a
‘leaf rating’. Some have one leaf,
others have quite a few, and some
have none (they don’t alienate the
venues that have not implemented
any sustainable initiatives yet).
Having the leaves on the initial
venue photograph gives an
organiser a clear and easy way to
rank venues. The site also ranks
suppliers, allowing you to see at a
glance which caterers have
considered their impact. Why isn’t
anyone doing this on the UK sites?
A quick look at a few of the most
popular UK venue-finding sites
shows me that they flag up benefits
such as wheelchair access, car
parking and number of bedrooms,
but if you are an international client
looking to book an event in the UK,
you will be sorely disappointed by
the lack of foresight.
Many of them are aware that they
need to do something about
sustainability. They may have a
downloadable PDF with a
Below:
Julia Charles-
Wiginton,
MD, Julia
Charles Event
Management
www.conference-news.co.uk
sustainability kit or a check list, and
while I applaud that they are
actually doing something, it would
be far more useful to include a
venue’s sustainability efforts.
According to the Bookings.com’s
Sustainable Travel Report, 55% of
consumers are determined to find
sustainable travel choices, but 37%
don’t know how to. Those figures
could be transferable to business
events because many organisers
still don’t know where to start.
A venue’s sustainability
credentials are important, and they
will only continue to increase in
importance. We need our
venue-finding sites to step up and
improve. I want to see sustainability
rank alongside other essential
considerations such as
accessibility, and I ask the
venue-finding sites to act now
because you are being left behind
and put to shame by our more
forward-thinking European
neighbours.