The Tourism, Culture and Sports Council has held its plenary meeting with the aim of analyzing the health protocols of the tourism sector that are being developed as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. On this occasion, the Council had the participation of Miguel Mirones, President of the Institute for Spanish Tourist Quality (ICTE), an organization that is in charge of coordinating the preparation of health protocols given his experience in the field of standardization.
After thanking the attendees and a brief presentation on the operation of the session by the President of the Council, Marta Blanco, the President of ICTE informed the attendees about the methodology that has been followed in preparing the 21 protocols. toilets, 12 of which are already published. This process has had the collaboration of all the actors in the sector: employers, unions, the Ministry of Health and public representatives. In this way, it has been integrated into the entire value chain, seeking everyone's agreement and consensus, to make Spain a safe tourist destination.
In practice, companies will have to make a responsible declaration that they comply with sanitary protocols or certify such compliance through an audit service. Likewise, a specific contingency plan must be available that takes into account the characteristics of each business designed by an internal health committee. Sector associations have been called upon to take an active part in advising companies on this matter.
It should be noted that the work carried out in these protocols has the vocation of being able to be applied by Spanish companies to operate nationally and internationally, so they will be presented to ISO when their global meetings are held in June and are expected to be a international reference.
Finally, the questions of the attendees about health protocols, their correct application in companies and their implementation and control by the authorities were resolved.
