The participating tourism services will receive training and advice on tourism management and quality over the next few years.
Vimianzo hosts the presentation and the first trainings of SICTED Costa da Morte.
Costa da Morte Tourist Association, thanks to the support of Turismo de Galicia and the Deputation of A Coruña, is already adhered to the Tourism Quality System in Destination, known as SICTED. Activity co-financed by the Deputación de la COruña thanks to the granting of aid to tourism management bodies for the year 2023. This is a project of the Secretary of State for Tourism (Setur), with its own methodology that helps to implement a quality management system with local public and private tourism stakeholders. Costa da Morte Tourist Association, representing the xeodestino, is already adhered to SICTED as a managing entity. It also has a professional team to support companies and municipalities wishing to join the system.
The Casa da Cultura of Vimianzo hosted yesterday Tuesday the first meeting between the actors of the tourism ecosystem that have the goal of joining the SICTED and obtain the distinctive Commitment to Tourism Quality a project co-financed by the Deputation da Coruña. Participate in this 1 Cycle of 2023 a total of 46 entities of Costa da Morte (rural tourism houses, hotels and guesthouses, tourist apartments, hostels, active tourism companies, tourist information offices and museums).
The president of CMAT and mayor of Vimianzo, Mónica Rodríguez Ordóñez; the president of the Professional Association of the Tourism Sector of Costa da Morte (APTCM), Pepe Formoso; and the head of the Technical Secretariat of CMAT, Marta Rodríguez, were in charge of detailing what the incorporation to SICTED means and what are the main objectives of the project, as Marta Rodríguez said “besides raising the level of quality of tourist services in Costa da Morte, SICTED aims to be a tool that helps us to create a destination, to the approach and networking of tourism professionals in the territory, to the better knowledge of the tourist offer and the promotion of new opportunities for collaboration”. José Manuel Barros, consulting partner of Autoxiro, gave the first training modules of SICTED, in which his methodology and its different phases were presented, as well as the manuals of good practices that will be implemented during 2023 through individualized visits of certified consultants.
Costa da Morte Tourism Association (CMAT) has already established its Action Plan with the objective of implementing the SICTED. “And now is when the optimal conditions are given to develop the project,” says Monica Rodriguez, who appreciates the support of the Deputation of A Coruña, which supports this initiative through aid to tourism management.
How long will it take to implement SICTED? The 46 actors of the Costa da Morte sector will have to go through several implementation cycles in the coming years. Once they meet the requirements to join the SICTED, they will obtain the Tourist Quality Commitment label. Each implementation cycle has an estimated duration of one year. The cycles provide training on methodology, customer service, best practices, the SICTED technological platform and legislation, among others. They also include individualized advice on quality, design and implementation of improvement plans, collective workshops to resolve doubts and address issues of interest. The CMAT has planned two dynamic workshops so that the companies adhered to the SICTED know first hand tourism initiatives linked to the certification of Costa da Morte as a Starlight Tourist Destination.
What is CMAT’s timeframe? The objective is to develop Cycle 1 of 2023 between June and the middle of next November. The adhesion proposal will be presented at the SICTED Committee, which is held in December. CMAT received more than 70 membership applications from companies and services of the territory, and those that could not join this year due to lack of places, will be part of a waiting list, and will have preference to join the project next year, in case of success in this first phase and it is decided to give it continuity. The CMAT will take into account criteria of territorial balance, so that the adhered companies are distributed throughout the Costa da Morte, and priority will be given, in case of having more applications than available places, to the companies associated through APTCM, looking for that business union so necessary to continue consolidating the destination of Costa da Morte.
