As a long-time standards watcher, I love the unusual! So when the new ISO 13009, “Tourism and related services – Requirements and recommendations for beach operation,” was released a couple of weeks ago, it really caught my eye. It’s part of the expansion of management standards into tourist operations and it’s a good one!
The standard has been developed by ISO Technical Committee 228, which addresses tourism and related services. It provides both requirements and recommendations for commercial beach operations. It was developed in an effort to help these folks manage their natural resources effectively. So it covers guidance on sustainable management and planning with an eye towards the development of both infrastructure and services that are safe with minimal negative ecological impact.
This means that ISO 13009 covers such issues as beach safety, cleaning and waste removal, communication with staff and patrons, and risk assessment. Clauses cover general requirements and guidance for managing beaches, as well as specific information on infrastructure and services. Five Annexes give you an overview of the concept of carrying capacity, bathing water quality, a checklist of minimum requirements for services and infrastructure, examples of beach shade materials, and lost and found people. The 15-item bibliography completes the picture, including not only relevant standards but also data from various organizations like the WHO (World Health Organization) and the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).
There are a wide variety of ocean-side beach resorts around the world and the development of a best-practices standard is sure to be of value to the industry. As a guidance document, it allows for a benchmark that can be widely used by a variety of stake-holders. These may include local governments interested in preserving natural resources while allowing for use, investors in resorts who want to minimize risk for their properties, and resorts that are interested in having a marketing tool that will assure potential patrons the property is world-class in every respect.
So here’s now I see it. There’s a number of auditors and other compliance professions who I’m sure are contemplating retirement and yet want to keep their hand in the business. Advising tourism industries on the benefits of standardization is a natural! In addition to the ISO 13009, here’s a list of standards available on the topic:
- ISO 13687, Tourism and related services – Yacht harbours – Minimum requirements
- ISO 14785, Tourist information offices – Tourist information and reception services – Requirements
- ISO 18513, Tourism services – Hotels and other types of tourism accommodation – Terminology
There’s plenty to be gained by helping these types of facilities improve and standardize their operations.
And how will you get your copies of these publications? You’ll want to use an authorized distributor like Document Center Inc. Just go to our webstore at www.document-center.com. You can order online or work with our staff by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com). We’ve been providing customers like you with standards and support services since 1982. Make us your Standards Experts!
