A sustainable roadmap for organising your event in Tallinn

The city development strategy „Tallinn 2035“ aims that Tallinn is a hospitable and balanced tourist destination.

Tallinn’s tourism development is balanced – the city’s visitors will get a pleasant experience and the locals feel the benefits of the tourism sector. The positive impact of tourism is at maximum and the negative impact is at minimum.

When developing Tallinn as a tourist destination, sustainable principles are applied to environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects.

Sustainable tourism: 

The development of products and services for visitors of Tallinn is environmentally friendly and respectful of the local community. The local tourism sector is conscious of environmentally friendly management practices, of the principles of universal design and of responsible business management. The local tourism sector applies this knowledge in the development of tourism services and shares this knowledge with its visitors.

Visit Tallinn Convention bureau (the business tourism team) has offered free neutral advice for meeting professionals for over 20 years, as the first convention bureau in the Baltic states.

Our Visit Tallinn website gathers information on local service providers, making sure all event organisers will find a suitable partner for their events. Visit Tallinn Convention Bureau promotes Tallinn as an attractive meeting and incentive destination.

When organising a sustainable event, please feel free to ask advice and suggestions from our business tourism manager Meeli Jaaksoo (meeli.jaaksoo@tallinnlv.ee) or via convention@tallinnlv.ee.

For more information, take a look at ISO 20121 sustainable events.

When organising a sustainable event, choose a local partner, which follows the principles of sustainability when offering service.

Such companies can be identified by a certificate or label:

There are also service providers who have simply described their sustainability principles on their website. This is a good indicator that a company is adopting a sustainable approach. We have added the tag “online declaration” to such local service providers.

We recommend working out a policy for activities to have a sustainable business. If possible, officially certify your actions towards sustainability.

Tallinn Airport has the Responsible Business Index (2020), ISO14001 certification and contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, Tallinn Airport plans to be carbon neutral by 2035.

The Port of Tallinn is certified with the Responsible Business Index (2019) and contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Half of the trains in Elron, which organises passenger transport by rail, are environmentally friendly electric trains, and the company favours to outsource services from companies with an environmental management system

By 2035, Tallinn's public transport plans to have only electric buses and trams in its fleet. By 2025, all diesel buses will be removed.

Tallinn city centre is compact, which means there are short, walkable distances between sights, hotels and meeting places. This minimises the event organiser’s need to hire transport for delegates, since visitors can easily walk between locations.

The public transport in Tallinn is varied, which allows even longer distances to be travelled quickly and conveniently. In addition, Tallinn provides free public transport for the delegates of international events (conferences, culture- and sports events).

Giving to charities is an activity from the heart to help and support others. Contributions can be made by helping out non-profit organisations, donating objects or money, but also a simple smile or a good word can inherently be considered as charity.

Conscious and unique experiences leave indelible memories. There are many exciting activities that have a rather modest impact on the environment, but are extraordinary to experience. Such as nature tours, mushroom and berry picking trips, taste experiences.

The opportunity to put your hands to work and make or better something yourself, can be useful for the doer, the environment and the community. Many Estonian designers have integrated recycling into their creations and are ready to involve guests in their workshops. Or why not organize a "Let's do it!" style clean-ups with your guests or have them plant a tree right where one's missing?

Arts and craft companies in Tallinn.