Brussels, 20/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 20 February, the European Commission proposed a set of voluntary European Tourism Quality Principles. This “quality charter” aims to ensure that tourists travelling to other member states or visiting our continent from third countries will get value for their money. This proposal complements other European initiatives, which follow the same aim, such as visa facilitation for third-country tourists and branding Europe as a set of high-quality destinations. Commissioner Antonio Tajani, responsible for industry and entrepreneurship commented: “Tourism service providers will be able to assure customers of the high quality of their services, which means a strong competitive advantage for businesses”.
The recommended principles will help tourism service providers gain visibility in wider markets, in particular in countries outside Europe, by providing cross-border tourists with relevant information about the services they can expect. If they are better-known and recognised, quality service providers will be encouraged to continue investing in this approach. The principles that the Commission is proposing that companies respect are: 1) staff training under the supervision of a “quality” coordinator, in an effort to guarantee the satisfactory completion of the tasks assigned; 2) the application of a consumer satisfaction policy, including the establishment of a mechanism for the handling of consumers' complaints; moreover, tourism providers should carry out consumer satisfaction surveys and take into account the findings to improve the quality of the service; 3) tourism service providers should keep a documented cleaning and maintenance plan for the facilities; 4) tourism service providers should make information available to consumers on local customs, heritage, traditions, services, products and sustainability aspects etc., and ensure that this information is in at least the most relevant foreign language, if appropriate to the location and business concept. The proposed recommendations will now be discussed by the Council during the Greek and Italian EU Presidencies. (IL/transl.fl)