Visit Faroe Islands Meetings Sustainable Destination Partners: Discussing with 62° North Incoming – Olav Faero, as of what should be the next steps in sustainable development of the company’s DMC products.

Sustainability is an important issue for the partners of Visit Faroe Islands Meetings. It not only affects the sustainable management of one’s own company, but also the design of destination products allowing to protect and care about nature and culture.

How to proceed, what new elements to include in programs and how to communicate the efforts jointly taken – that was the topic of a recent discussion with Olav.

Last year, VFIM organized a workshop for its partners to jointly establish sustainable goals for agencies, hotels, and team building organizers. Finding the connections between the sustainability goals of the UN from the Agenda 2030 and their implementation in one’s own company should be formulated as a sustainability policy for each partner and function as a guideline for the employees.

“What are the next steps for us, beyond the company policy?”

that question of Olav Faero, the manager of 62° North Incoming, turns out to be not that easy to answer.

To optimize the way forward, it needs a thorough analysis of the most relevant topics in the destination, how to turn (abstract) strategies into commercial offers and, above all, how to best communicate all efforts taken to clients. A company like 62° North, which operates across all islands and maintains an incoming department, its own accommodation, car rental and travel agencies, additionally needs new ideas for various business areas. “We don’t want to do greenwashing,” says Olav. “We want a future-proof and sustainable approach in everything we do and are a little at a loss as to where and how to actually start. The main initiator of more sustainability in our company, left in the meantime, so now we require a consistent strategy to follow.”

This honest assessment might stand for other companies as well – like all innovations, sustainable restructuring needs ideas, passion, and concrete steps to the goal. A task also for the responsible Convention Bureau to consequently be followed!

A first and important step to determination for the better is to “speak with one voice” when presenting your product and destination. While the own service or product is at the core of interest, the overall narrative should cover the importance of sustainable efforts and the most significant economic and social goals of the islands. Infrastructural products or service for business events are exchangeable but get a whole new meaning and value as part of the bigger purpose of the destination.

Every person talking with clients must understand the key messages of the destination – the employee at the car rental company or in a hotel, a Marketing manager in customer presentations at trade fairs or during a site inspection – the sustainable strategy must be part of the message.

62° North is currently evaluating the purchase of e-cars for the rental business and the consistent implementation of the company policy formulated in 2021. A Visit Faroe Islands Meetings partner workshop last week helped to identify the key destination messages and how to best communicate them. To create stories about new initiatives in the destination, the amazing culture and society and their own efforts, will be the perfect next step for 62° North and the MICE partners of the Faroe Islands to take on the road to more sustainability.

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More about sustainable destination programs, event opportunities, innovation, business ecosystems and an ambitioned community – Follow the LinkedIn showcase of Visit Faroe Islands Meetings and on www.tmf-dialogue.net

Posted by Johanna Fischer, February 2022