Pilot Program for Integrated Quality Travel Destination Gets Going

Miguel Mirones, President of the Institute for Tourism Quality, made the most of the intense sessions in FITUR and met Galician Secretary of Tourism Maria Nava Castro to foster a pilot project for Integrated Quality Travel Destination in the community, with guidelines to be developed throughout 2014. Mirones proposed Muxia to be the first target destination.

This brand-new certification mode is aimed at achieving high quality levels in small towns. Integrated Quality Travel Destination norm is set to require the main tourism resource (beach, ski resort, etc.) to have the "Q" for Quality, as well as the public management resources and a percentage of private-run local tourism companies (depending on the average of inhabitants and establishments in the municipality).

The meeting took place after the celebration of the "Muxia act" at Galicia’s pavilion. Muxia is a Coruna locality with nearly 5,000 inhabitants. Its five rural houses have been Q certified, and that’s the reason why Mirones encouraged the official to follow the path of excellence and have its beaches certified so the municipality can be a pioneer in this new norm.

Miguel Mirones, who participated in the colloquium, recalled the disaster caused by the storm in the town, and he urged the Galician mayor and government to go on. "Despite the damages, these events give a boost to tourism destinations", Mirones said and compared this incident with the earthquake in Lorca (Murcia), where the former national football coach Jose Antonio Camacho was appointed Q Client on January 13.