NEWS / ADVENTURE
BIS FOR QUALITY SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT IN ADVENTURE TOURISM BUREAU OF INDIAN STANDARDS WILL ASSOCIATE WITH ATOAI, TOURISM INDIA & KITTS FOR STANDARDISATION
B
ureau of Indian Standards (BIS) the National Standards Body of India engaged in Standardization activity in various fields’ will joints hands with Adventure Tour Operators Association of India, Kerala Institute of Travel & Tourism Management (KITTS) Kerala Adventure Tourism Promotion Society (KATPS) and Tourism India in the field Adventure Tourism safety and security guidelines. As a part of this, a statelevel Workshop for the Adventure Tourism Stakeholders was organized by KAPTS and Tourism India at UdayacSamudra Leisure Beach Hotel Kovalam in May 2019. BIS has decided to launch a new certification scheme on Adventure Tourism - Safety
management Systems against the above standard and Kerala will be the first state in India to implement this certification. This will help the Kerala Tourism industry in demonstrating compliance to standards thus increasing consumer confidence and safety of visiting tourists. It is perceived that BIS certification would also ensure compliance with Government regulations/guidelines. All adventure activities involve inherent risk of harm and providers have to manage those risks. The degree of risk varies among activities and locations. It is important that adventure activity providers take necessary steps to manage the risks and deliver adventure activities safely while keeping alive the sense
of adventure and excitement. The consequences of not doing so can be catastrophic. To promote a more systematic approach to managing safety in adventure tourism, BIS has published IS 16311/ISO 21101:2014 Adventure tourism — Safety management systems-Requirements. The Standard sets out the requirements for a safety management system (SMS) that can be used by all types and sizes of providers, operating in different geographic, cultural and social environments Kerala Tourism has already conducted a state level industry brainstorming workshop to implement safety and security measures in the Adventure and Activity segments in the state and the draft guideline is already
Mr. Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Kerala inauguratoing the workshop by lighting the traditional lamp in the presence of Mr. Varghese Joy, Deputy Director-General, BIS, Mr. Ravisankar, Managing Editor, Tourism India, Mrs. Surina Rajan IAS, Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards, Mrs.Rani George IAS, Secretary,Kerala Tourism, Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, President, Accredited Tour Operators of India, Mr. C.S. Vinod, President, Association of Tourism Trade Organization of India and Mr. Manesh Bhaskar, CEO of Kerala Adventure Tourism Promotion Society
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Tourism India May 2019
