Quality System in Tourist Destinations (SICTED)

What is Sicted?

It is a tourist destination quality improvement project promoted by the Department for Tourism at the Ministry of Tourism and by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), targeting tourism businesses and services providers of up to 30 different trades and influencing the experience and satisfaction of the tourist who visits the destination.

 SICTED is a methodology that provides a comprehensive and permanent tourist destination quality management system with a new understanding of the expected results, a focus on continuous improvement and an interest in recovering and making the most of the resources and the space.

 The SICTED is based on the full awareness of the destination and on the identification of common objectives among the agents involved. Therefore, it could be said that it is an essential element of the Spanish Tourism Quality System (SCTE). The SICTED is complemented with good practice manuals developed by TURESPAÑA (Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce) within its Hosts program.

 The manuals can be downloaded using the following link: Culture of Detail.

 The SICTED pursues that the services offered to tourists within the same destination have a homogeneous quality level so that substantial quality deficiencies are not noticeable among the different products (agents) that make up the offer at the destination and, and the perception and satisfaction of the clients have no negative conditioning.

Goals

• Create a permanent structure for managing and promoting quality at destination
• Promote the application of intersectoral quality standards.
• Highlight the effort by awarding the emblem of tourist quality commitment to businesses and tourism services providers.
• Increase the participation of the agents involved in the development of tourism at the destination

Features

• Integrative and participatory
• Creator of competitive advantages
• Structured
• Flexible
• Integral since it reaches all the trades of a destination
• Driving force for other management systems
• Results-oriented
• Based on the consumption journey of the tourist
• Oriented to satisfy and build customer loyalty
• The management of the different agents involved is defined and carried out with the help of the online management platform

Participating Agents

• Tourism businesses/service providers – they are the direct beneficiaries of the project.
• Trainers and consultants – they are tourism quality expert technicians of their own destiny or external ones, that help companies in their evolution towards the effectiveness.
• Evaluators are independent technicians who guarantee objectivity and rigour in the evaluation process before the award.
• Manager SICTED is the fundamental piece in the management of SICTED, is responsible for coordinating the actions that are developed at the destination.
• Managing entity is the public-private body that ensures the development of the competitiveness of tourism companies and public services of the destination. The Management Entity is also formed by the ADESGAM Board of Directors, the General Directorate of Tourism of the Community of Madrid, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Madrid and the Antonio de Nebrija University.
• Committee of inter-destinations is the body responsible for making decisions regarding the SICTED model. It is composed of representatives of the General Secretariat of Tourism, FEMP, Autonomous Communities, Provincial Councils and destinations.
• Autonomous Communities, support, and promote SICTED in their territories.
• Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), provides help and support to the project.
• General Department of Tourism is the owner of the methodology and coordinator of the project at the national level.

Crafts and requirements

• Comply with current legislation to carry out its activity
• Sign the accession protocol
• Run the business within the geographic scope of the SICTED destination
• Belong to one of the following trades:
• Travel agency
• Hostels
• Rural lodgings
• Rent a car
• Craftsmen
• Bars and coffee shops
• Campsites
• Shops
• Convention Bureaux
• Active tourism companies
• Tourist transport companies
• Natural spaces
• Ski and mountain resorts
• Spanish schools for foreigners
• Tour guides
• Hotels and apartments
• Museums and tourist interest centres
• Tourist information office
• Professional congress organiser (PCO)
• Beaches
• Citizen security
• Sport ports
• Restaurants
• Cleaning services
• Taxis
• Health tourism services
• Other services
• Wineries
• Cruise and ferry docking

Benefits/ advantages

The SICTED offers the following benefits for destinations:

• Increases tourist/visitor satisfaction
• Increases inhabitant satisfaction
• Improves the positioning of the destination
• Increases the perception of reliability of the offer
• Increases the involvement of the sectors in the objectives of the destination
• Enhances knowledge of the sector to which it belongs
• Improves coordination between establishments in the same sector
• Increases coordination with the public sector

SICTED offers the following benefits to the participating tourism businesses/service providers:

• Promotes quality management within the establishment or service
• Have a Good Practices application guide to which to turn to
• Share experiences with entrepreneurs from the same sector
• Increase customer´s perception of service reliability
• Have a recognition system

Tools

• Good Practice Manual
• Management Platform
• Training modules
• Training
• Visits
• Workshops
• Improvement Groups
• Destination Satisfaction Survey

Emblem

The emblem is what proves compliance with the requirements established in the methodology and recognises the effort and commitment to quality and continuous improvement while differentiating the organisation from the competition.

The emblem has a biennial validity, although it is subject to annual follow-up evaluation