How to help the tourism industry get through the COVID-19 crisis time

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry was hard hit, suffering a drop in revenues of some USD 460 billion globally in the first half of 2020. While border restrictions have eased dramatically since, the industry is still plagued with the challenge of attracting tourists back in a safe and sanitary way.
Recognizing the many challenges that the industry is facing, ISO has started work on a new set of guidelines to help tourism providers navigate the best measures for everyone’s safety and reassure tourists of the effectiveness of what they have in place.

The future publicly available specification ISO/PAS 5643, Tourism and related services – Measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the tourism industry, will help everyone in the sector – accommodation providers, museums, transport, experiences, activities and guides – to provide safer services and prevent the spread of the virus.

In addition, ISO, together with Spanish Association for Standardization UNE, is holding a public webinar on tourism recovery in a post-COVID environment. Held on 21 October under the theme “Tourism and the impacts of COVID-19: the role of standards in mitigating the crisis”.

The webinar will outline case studies of national experiences, guidelines for governments and the private sector and a needs-gap analysis of standards required as well as those currently available and in development. The event will feature experts from organizations such as the UNWTO, the International Chamber of Commerce, the ICTE, Tourism Portugal, standards experts, and more.