Standards on tourism
Welcome, tourists!
Austria welcomes its guests with openness, friendliness and hospitality. Of course, you cannot standardise cordiality and affability, but standards can lay down requirements for many aspects that raise well-being, safety and confidence in facilities and services.
- Credit: ASI prm
Good services
Services can have a regulated/defined quality. The starting point of this young field of standardisation was the first edition of ISO 9001 in the 1980s that serves for evidencing management quality.
In particular on the initiative of Austria, services have been standardised - also in fields closely related to tourism. They offer the following advantages: services are comparable, certificates document compliance with standards and quality is ensured through good training.
Services standards in tourism (examples):
ÖNORM EN 15565: Tourism services - Requirements for the provision of professional tourist guide training and qualification programmes
ÖNORM S 1150: Training of bath supervisors
ÖNORM EN 14153: Training of recreational scuba divers
please visit also www.euf-certification.org
- Credit: ASI prm
Clear orientation
From arrival on, guests are to feel safe and be able to orient well. At the European level, the issue of airport security is addressed. A European Standard on "Airport and aviation security services" that is currently prepared under the lead of Austria is expected to be published by 2011.
And already at airports, visitors get what they rightly expect: clear signs. These are defined in international standards and designed in such a way that everybody - also visually impaired persons - can easily read them.
Orientation standards (examples):
ISO 7001: Graphical symbols
ÖNORM A 3011: Graphic symbols for public information
ÖNORM A 3012: Visual guiding systems for public information (for visually impaired persons)
ÖNORM A 3013: Orientation signs for hiking trails
- Credit: ASI prm
Reliable quality
Numerous standards govern product quality - be it helmets, skis, play equipment at swimming pools or diving equipment. Without being in the limelight, excellent specifications raise safety, protect health and thereby let you fully enjoy sports and leisure activities.
Leisure and sports (examples):
ÖNORM EN 1176: Safety requirements for playground equipment
ÖNORM EN 12572: Safety requirements for artificial climbing structures
ÖNORM EN 1077: Helmets for alpine skiers and snowboarders
ÖNORM S 1241: Shooting ranges for shotguns
- Credit: ASI prm
Well-being for all
The key to an agreeable stay will always be your accommodation: be it at a hotel, a B&B or an apartment.
For people with a handicap - on account of age, walking difficulties or because they even need a wheelchair - many destinations are ill suited. Too narrow corridors, too many steps or missing handholds are weaknesses that simply exclude some guests.
That should be avoided. After all, intelligent and well-designed buildings are also more convenient and comfortable for everybody else. A series of standards has been developed on these aspects in Austria. They even offer the possibility to have this added value certified.
Barrier-free buildings (examples):
ÖNORM B 1600: Building without barriers - Design principles
ÖNORM B 1601: Special buildings for handicapped or old persons - Design principles
ÖNORM B 1603: Barrier-free buildings for tourism - Design principles
ÖNORM B 1610: Barrier-free buildings and installations - Requirements for evaluation of accessibility (certificate)
- Credit: ASI prm
Outlook
To put it in a nutshell, tourism has a high quality level thanks to numerous standards and regulations. Since services are still a young specialisation in standardisation, however, there is ample room for future work with a view to health, safety and the environment.
