No Elevators Day: #BeActive campaign celebrated in 25 countries

07/04/2023 Maria Malyshkina, ISCA

Previously we wrote about No Elevators Day, a campaign that encourages people to #BeActive in their daily lives by taking the stairs instead of elevators whenever possible. We also shared how to #UseTheStairs to take a brain break at work or school. The European Commission even featured on their website No Elevators Day (together with the Danish Workplace Activity Week) among the most impressive events of the #BeActive campaign last year. Are you curious about how No Elevators Day went in 2023? Read on below (scroll down to watch the video from the celebration of the day by ISCA team in Copenhagen.

The National Coordinators organised 340 events in 25 countries, which involved almost 63000 participants – and that’s not counting all the action on social media!

The No Elevators Day campaign saw a great turnout in Spain with 50,000 participants. Bulgaria had 6,000 participants attending 60 events, while Latvia had around 2,000 people joining the celebration. Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the event with the Association Healthy Life - Kinesis (Udruga Zdrav život – Kinezis) organizing a No Elevators Day event for the first time. The festival of running up the most famous stairs in Mostar attracted 1,150 participants and gained lots of attention on social media platforms and local news websites. According to the organizers, this new dynamic race on the last Wednesday of April with a simple goal to promote the use of stairs in everyday life will become a regular event. You can find more photos from the race on social media by following hashtags #NoElevatorsDay or #UseTheStairs.

The campaign also received media coverage, with news articles published by local websites in Spain, Bulgaria, and other countries, reaching millions of people. The Spanish state television website even shared an article about the world's most famous staircases, providing inspiration for the next No Elevators Day.

Social media channels also saw lots of stairs action, with individuals and organizations around the world showing their support through their inspiring posts. Hospitals and universities in Switzerland, for example, reached not only their social media followers but also thousands of their patients who could join the No Elevators Day at their facilities. The Deutscher Turner-Bund, a member of International Sport and Culture Association, with over 25 thousand followers on Instagram, also shared a post about the No Elevators Day, helping reach more people in Germany.

Individuals and organizations in Serbia, Hungary, Albania, Portugal, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, and many more joined the #BeActive campaign on Instagram, Facebook, and even YouTube. Multiple state and health organizations in Latvia and Estonia, NGOs from Austria and Hungary, an architectural bureau from Portugal, and kindergartens in Bulgaria also joined the campaign.

Thanks to everyone who participated in spreading the message and enjoying this day full of MOVEment together with us! Save the date for the next No Elevators Day: 24 April 2024. Visit the official No Elevators Day website to find more information, register your events, download the resources and become part of the community of MOVErs!