What happened after the publication of ISO 21401 on 18/12/2018?
Before I talk about the news! To update those who haven’t followed this subject, the ISO 21401:2018 standard – Sustainability management system for accommodation establishment describes a sustainable business model for hotels, regardless of any type, size, or geographic location. The standard is based on the integration of sustainability in the management of the hotel, where the enterprise’s decisions are made based on the aspects of sustainability (3 dimensions), seeking to minimize the negative impacts and enhance the positive ones generated by the business.
In 2016, ISO/TC 228 created WG 13—Sustainable tourism to develop a new international standard based on Brazil´s proposal. For 30 months, hundreds of experts worked on it, and at the end of 2018, ISO published ISO 21401.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE ISO 21401 STANDARD
Well, in a recent survey conducted with ISO/TC 228 member countries, 30 countries that responded said that they have already adopted the ISO 21401 standard as a national standard and 9 intend to adopt it in the future, see:
THE USE OF THE ISO 21401 STANDARD
Technical standards represent the technical consensus on a given subject and are part of the solutions that the market and governments can adopt. In this sense, standards can be the basis of many initiatives: business orientation, team training, training of future professionals, reference for public policies, criteria for selecting suppliers, Criteria for selecting partners, criteria for the choice of tourists, and criteria for the certification of companies.
Despite the complexity of evaluating how and how much the market has used the ISO 21401 standard, it is possible to say that the level of adoption of this document in several countries and the growing number of enterprises that have been seeking the certification of their businesses, represents the validation of the relevance of this essential international reference for sustainable tourism. See the hotels certified so far:
THE FUTURE OF ISO 21401
Recently, the standard received an update produced by ISO for all Management System Standards. The update included an important reference on climate change, highlighting that Hotels shall consider the contribution to this topic when implementing the sustainability management system.
However, we will begin a deeper process of reflection to assess whether further improvements to the document are needed. This issue will also be addressed at the next meeting of WG 13.
THE ISO/TC 228/ WG 13 – SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Since its inception, WG 13 has been working collaboratively, with the dedication and engagement of hundreds of experts, where international standards have been published:
- ISO 21401 Tourism and related services – Sustainability management system for accommodation establishment – Requirements
- ISO 23405 – Tourism and related services – Sustainable tourism – Principles, vocabulary and model
Work continues to develop future international standards:
- DIS 18060 – Sustainable Tourism – Indicators for organizations in the tourism value chain – Requirements and guidelines for use
- WD 18982 – Sustainable Tourism – Good Practices for Implementing Key Principles of Sustainable Tourism in Tourist Destinations
- PWI – Requirements for bodies performing audit and certification of management systems – Part XX: Competency requirements for auditing and certification of sustainability management systems for accommodation establishments (ISO 21401)
Today, experts from 35 countries make the WG 13, namely:
In addition, the organizations ECTAA, EFCO&HPA, and UNWTO are part of WG 13.