the joint wto & ih&ra; study on hotel classification - Hotel Designs

IND.D.004.16 April 2004Summing up• In <strong>the</strong> light of recent events such as 9/11, SARS, Mad Cow disease and Legionnaire’sdisease, ensuring minimum standards for safety and hygiene should obviously fall togovernments. As most of <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r aspects of classification are basically commercial,or market-driven, this could be a first conside<strong>ra</strong>tion guiding <strong>the</strong> classification debate.• The two notions, destination, whe<strong>the</strong>r country or region, and purpose of t<strong>ra</strong>vel(business, leisure, etc) are fundamental. As noted in <strong>the</strong> report, Europe is currentlyconsidering <strong>the</strong> feasibility of an EU classification system; similar investigations areunderway within ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations); in <strong>the</strong> Nordiccountries and in <strong>the</strong> Middle East; while Cent<strong>ra</strong>l African states have expressed interestin some such system.Key conside<strong>ra</strong>tions1. Private sector requirement: consumer informationThere is strong consumer demand for better and more t<strong>ra</strong>nsparent information onboth <strong>the</strong> products and destinations on offer. This implies <strong>the</strong> consistent use of agiven and recognised terminology. It also <strong>ra</strong>ises <strong>the</strong> problem of <strong>the</strong> language(s) inwhich <strong>the</strong> information is made available. On <strong>the</strong> positive side, <strong>the</strong> diversity ofinformation available can also be considered an advantage.2. Public sector responsibility: Hygiene and safetyGovernment concern should focus more on ensuring hygiene and personal safetythan on <strong>the</strong> commercial aspects of classification.3. MethodologyIt would be advisable to devise a methodology providing those states wishing toset up a national or regional classification scheme with <strong>the</strong> necessary tools to doso. The point here is to provide a systematic way of taking into account <strong>the</strong>cultu<strong>ra</strong>l differences between states in terms of service and facilities according todestinations, regions and purpose of t<strong>ra</strong>vel. To be sustainable, tourism must beable to consolidate its diversity, not seek uniformity.Without <strong>the</strong>se intermediary stages, any international classification system would run <strong>the</strong>risk of being irrelevant and <strong>the</strong>refore inefficient, especially as it could necessarily only bevoluntary. In <strong>the</strong> long run, this would end up merely creating more confusion.***- 80 -