North Réunion Intercommunal Tourist Office
After a year of dedicated work, and following an audit carried out in December 2023, the Office de Tourisme Intercommunal du Nord (OTI Nord) has been awarded ISO 9001 certification, a guarantee of the quality of its know-how and skills. It is the first tourist office in Réunion to achieve this international standard.
Offering a service in line with customer requirements, complying with legal requirements and seeking to increase customer satisfaction: these are the points that prompted the Office de Tourisme Intercommunal du Nord (OTI Nord) to embark on a Quality approach.
In applying for ISO 9001 certification in particular, the Office de Tourisme Intercommunal du Nord wanted to put in place a quality management system that was both international in scope and included criteria relating to innovation and sustainability. Following the audit in December 2023, OTI Nord officially received its ISO 9001- Quality Management certificate.
Generally speaking, the ISO 9001 standard shows that a company is structured and encourages innovation and teamwork. It is a standard that is recognised internationally, in the tourism industry as well as in government and the private sector.
Much more than a certification, the ISO standard leads establishments to question their habits and procedures in order to improve the quality of their service and fully meet the expectations of visitors, whatever their origin.
This recognition is a high point for OTI Nord. But the process doesn't stop there: we're now aiming for the establishment to be classified as Category 1.
Once it has been approved by the region's elected representatives, the application is submitted by the CINOR to the Prefecture, which will deliberate on the classification, which is recognition of the excellence of the service provided here, centred on the concept of Sustainable and Responsible Tourism.
In practical terms, the certification process involves setting up a quality management system, and therefore procedures and tools capable of constantly improving service performance. In practice, this has meant creating and monitoring a number of indicators to measure and control the work carried out.
"For example, we have put in place updated procedures for each of our key tasks. We've also introduced monthly meetings to exchange ideas with the whole team," explains Frédéric FOUCQUE, Chairman of OTI Nord. "Every year, a management review is held to summarise the actions taken and the results achieved. If the objectives have been achieved, we will try to go even further, and if not, we will analyse the reasons in more detail: part of the quality system is based on the ability to change processes".
