Quality certificate is optional

THE tourist sector is to have an international quality control certification.
This will be a new specific ISO international qualification which will be substituted for the existing ISO9001; both being voluntary. The International Committee decided during their last meeting to include the new controls in the rules applying to hotels and restaurants, as requested by the Spanish Institute for Tourist Quality (ICTE), in spite of the opposition of HOTREC (European Association of Hotel and Restaurant Owners) who did not want it included. The President of ICTE, Miguel Mirones, said he considered the result of the vote a triumph for Spanish interests. “For years we have been saying that our quality control system in the Spanish tourist sector is one of our greatest assets and the proof of this is this world level backing for our proposals”, he said. He also called on HOTREC to “reconsider” its position in this matter as “it is absolutely against the worldwide interests of the tourist sector”.