Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards Collaborates with the Ministry of Tourism
The Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards is pleased to have collaborated with the Ministry of Tourism to roll out the Tourism Development Act which would initiate its Tourism Certification drive.
The Act seeks to facilitate inclusive, resilient and sustainable tourism development; while for providing economic opportunities for tourism service providers through tourism certification; incentives for tourism investment, including, specialized support areas; additional incentives and incentives for resilience. The initiative also will provide better management of the industry by the Department responsible for tourism development, the imposition, collection, remittance, assessment and payment of a tourism levy; through the establishment of the Tourism Development Fund and Tourism Information Database and monitoring systems. The Act seeks to certify all operators within the Tourism sector across its various subsectors.
This initiative came off the heels of the Covid-Certification and is the next step to meeting international standards. This ensures service providers are individually competitive thereby continuously improving the tourism product of Saint Lucia as a premier destination. The initiative also strengthens all tourism players and ensures the tourism product provided meets a globally recognised standard and the quality provided is of the highest level.
The Act also seeks to foster the inclusion and participation of local suppliers and support service providers regardless of their size. This will help create a uniquely Saint Lucian tourism experience along withsuperior customer service and provide business continuity in the possibility of anynatural and man-made disasters. It seeks to foster inclusive development and participation, creating diversified forms of subsectors.
Under the Certification program will be a Tourism Advisory Committee and a Tourism Certification Committee Tourism Investment Committee.
The Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards has already developed and adopted a suite of standards for the Tourism sector.
- SLNS 22-1: 2012 Specification for Tourist Accommodation Part 1 – General Requirements
- SLNS 22-2: 2020 Tourism Accommodations — Part 2: Hotel — Requirements (CRS 11-2: 2019, MOD)
- SLNS 22-3:2018 Tourism Accommodation Part 3 Guest houses – Requirements
- SLNS 73: 2009 Standard for Water Based Tourism
- SLNS 74: 2016 Standard for tourism ground transportation
- SLNS 83: 2016 CRS 36: 2013, IDT) Guidelines for Recreational Water Quality
- SLNS 88: 2015 Specification for Tourism Sites and Attraction
- SLCP 11: 2011 Code of Practice for Tour Guides
- SLCP 12: 2011 Code of Practice for Inbound Tour Operators
- SLCP 13-1: 2012 Code of Practice for Beauty and Wellness – Part 1: General requirements
- SLCP 13-2: 2014 Code of Practice for Beauty and Wellness – Part 2: Requirements for Spas
- SLCP 13-3: 2016 Code of Hygienic Practice for Beauty and Wellness – Part 3 : Particular Requirements for Tattoo Establishments
- SLCP 13-4: 2017 Code of Hygienic Practice for beauty and wellness facilities Part 4 Particular requirements for hairdressing and barbershop
- SLNS/ISO 13009: 2015 Tourism and Related Services -Requirements and Recommendations for Beach Operation (ISO 13009: 2015, Idt)
- SLNS/ISO 13687-2:2017 Tourism and related services — Yacht harbours — Part 2: Minimum requirements for intermediate service level harbours
- SLNS/ISO 13810:2015 Tourism services — Industrial tourism — Service provision
- SLNS/ISO 13970:2011 Recreational diving services — Requirements for the training of recreational snorkeling guides
- SLNS/ISO 14785:2014 Tourist information offices — Tourist information and reception services – Requirements
- SLNS/ISO 17680:2015 Tourism and related services — Thalassotherapy — Service requirements
- SLNS/ISO 18065: 2015 Tourism and Related services – Tourist services for public Use provided by Natural Protected Areas Authorities- Requirements (ISO 18065: 2015, Idt)
- SLNS/ISO 18513:2003 Tourism services — Hotels and other types of tourism accommodation – Terminology
- SLNS/ISO 20410: 2017 Tourism and related services — Bareboat charter — Minimum service and equipment requirements (ISO 20410: 2017, IDT)
- SLNS/ISO 20611:2018 Adventure tourism — Good practices for sustainability — Requirements and recommendations
- SLNS/ISO 21101:2014 Adventure tourism — Safety management systems – Requirements
- SLNS/ISO 21103:2014 Adventure tourism — Information for participants
- SLNS/ISO 21401:2018 Tourism and related services — Sustainability management system for accommodation establishments – Requirements
- SLNS/ISO 21426:2018 Tourism and related services — Medical spas — Service requirements
If you are interested in any of these standards or are in the Tourism sector, feel free to reach out to the Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards to secure your copy of the Standards.