Initiative to standardise tour ratings

Date: 30/11/1995

By Fiona McHugh

WORK is underway on a new initiative aimed at overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers to tourism by harmonising descriptions of holidays across the EU.

Different systems for rating tourist facilities used in different corners of the single market frequently cause confusion and disappointment for travellers, according to the European committee of standards, CEN, which is drawing up the new guidelines.

The move is backed by the European consumers' organisation BEUC, which says that while national offices already produce quality symbols, these usually vary between member states. With scores of different ratings systems, it is hard for travellers to judge the quality of hotel accommodation in other member states.

“One-starred hotels in Italy are often not as reliable as those in France and certainly not of the same standard,” explains Valerie Thomson of BEUC.

“Likewise, British tourists travelling to Spain do not generally realise that a five-starred pension is not the same thing as a five-starred hotel.”

To tackle such communication problems, CEN is currently drawing up universally understandable symbols which it hopes will come into common use.

Stewart Sanson of CEN explained: “We are not trying to standardise tourism, but to standardise descriptions of tourist facilities, so that we all mean the same thing when we say 'furnished' for example.

“Standardising descriptions will improve the quality of information within the tourist industry and, in the long run, make it more transparent.”

But while members of CEN stand poised at the drawing-board, industry representatives are expressing pessimism about the scheme's chances of success.

“I have not heard of these people, but I wish them luck,” said Leonard Lickorish of the European Tourism Action Group.

“The Commission has tried on several occasions to harmonise tourism symbols, but it has always failed.”

CEN does not have any legislative powers, so it cannot impose new standards on the industry.