• The Galician Tourism Cluster, within the framework of the collaboration agreements formalized by the Galician Tourism Agency-Xunta de Galicia, carried out an evaluation process on the Q Tourism Quality certification.

The Galician Tourism Cluster, within the framework of the collaboration agreements formalized by the Galician Tourism Agency-Xunta de Galicia, has just carried out an evaluation process on the Q certification for Tourism Quality in the private sphere for Galicia. The Q guarantee mark for Tourism Quality is a mark aimed at voluntary certification that accredits the quality of tourist services, specifically, the management, services and infrastructure of tourist organizations. Currently, there are a total of 349 entities that have the recognition, placing Galicia as the second autonomous community in number of certifications.

The evaluation process carried out by the Cluster was built on four main axes: the attractiveness of the certification, the aid linked to the certification, an evaluation of the consulting service offered by the Galician Tourism Cluster, and general suggestions and feedback. The process, with a margin of error of 5.94% and a confidence level of 95%, had the participation of 132 companies.

One of the main problems or needs for companies is the knowledge that the general public may have of the Q certification, with this issue reaching an average score of 6.21 (on a scale of 1 to 10).

In relation to the possible benefits that this quality seal can bring, the survey gave four options to select, in addition to leaving the possibility of including other benefits or responses. The most representative benefit is to transmit the concept of reliability or professionalization for tourists (66.9%). Very close is the benefit of improving business management (55.9%) and helping to differentiate from the competition (46.2%). The fourth option, which indicated the perception that certification helps in promoting the company/entity, reached 16.9%.

Regarding the level of satisfaction, most of the companies surveyed are satisfied or very satisfied with the Q certification for Tourism Quality: the average rating is 8.37 (on a scale of 1 to 10). A fact that confirms that, at a business level, this certificate is valued very positively.

Within the framework of the collaboration agreements, the Cluster made a free consulting service available to tourism organizations to obtain and/or maintain the Q for Quality. In the evaluation process, the companies/entities that received the service also assessed its quality. Most of those surveyed approve the consulting service with a good rating, with an average response that is around 8.43 (on a scale of 1 to 10).

Conclusions

Most of the evaluations related to the Q Quality certification are positive. This recognition of quality helps convey a series of guarantees to tourists and brings added value to the company.

On the one hand, one of the most demanded aspects is related to the promotion and enhancement of this certificate to the public: clients do not know what this certification entails, so greater promotion is necessary to help highlight those entities that achieved the Q for Quality. On the other hand, the work of communicating the aid that Turismo de Galicia makes available to companies interested in certification stands out positively, since practically all of those surveyed were aware of this aid program.

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