ISO 13009 – Tourism services – Requirements and recommendations for Beach Operation

ISO 13009 (Tourism Services – Beach Operation) establishes general requirements and recommendations for beach operators that offer tourist and visitor services. It provides guidance for both beach operators and users regarding the delivery of sustainable management and planning, beach ownership, sustainable infrastructure and service provision needs, including beach safety, information and communication, cleaning and waste removal.

ISO 13009 is applicable to beaches during the bathing season.

The aim of ISO 13009 Standard is to help beach operators make informed decisions about managing the beaches, using a consistent approach based on best practice.

In addition to general beach organization, ISO 13009 Standard includes other important aspects, such as providing education and information on beach safety, signage, access and zoning, supervision and rescue, water quality and beach facilities.

Beaches are influenced by different uses and needs, and are subject to considerable seasonal tourist pressure. Particularly complex is the aspect of their management, which necessarily requires simultaneous attention to a range of factors.
Bathing establishments operators, choosing to certify beach management according to the international standard ISO 13009 demonstrate to tourists and residents the sustainable management of beaches, and that the available services and facilities respect certain quality requirements.

The application of ISO 13009 standard brings several benefits, both to bathing establishments operators and to local communities of the areas where tourism is one of the main economic activities:

• better tourist services, greater customer satisfaction
• regulatory compliance
• highly efficient infrastructure maintenance
• management of social and economic environmental risks
• accident prevention and emergency management
• lower impact on the environment
• trust from local communities
• continuous improvement
• contributing to the growing public awareness of sustainability
• improvement of the economic and social fabric of seaside resorts as a whole
• economic growth of the region.

Benefits of ISO implementation:

– Increase customer and consumer confidence

– Increasing the quality of products/services

– Reduce waste and losses in products/services and ultimately reduce costs

– Save on consumables and increase profits

– Planning, implementation of affairs in the form of a predefined international system

– Improve performance, increase productivity and speed in affairs

– Increase efficiency and customer satisfaction

– Reducing the number of complaints

– Improvement and uniformity in the quality of products/services

– Timely delivery of products/services

– Global competition

– Prevent or reduce unexpected events

– Earning points in tenders, obtaining ranks and grades from government organizations, providing evidence in exports

– Advertising use in headers, company site and all advertising matters

– Earn points in selecting sample units

– Reduce waste and waste time

– Creating confidence inside and outside the organization

– Transparency of processes and indicators

– Ensuring that customer needs and expectations are met

– Production of product/service with better quality

– Help with more marketing and sales and create demand

– Increasing the productivity and motivation of human resources

– Correcting errors and preventing their recurrence

– Improving communication within the organization

– Prevention of non-compliant product/service production

– Develop sales methods and provide after-sales service