Business Accreditation and Starting a new business
Visit Britain and AA
Dover District Council operates an ‘inspected
only’ policy in which all establishments marketed through our
Visitor Information Centres and the White Cliffs Country Visitor
Guide and website have to be assessed and graded by an approved
national scheme such as Visit Britain or AA.
Both the AA and Visit Britain assess
accommodation to the same standards and award one to five
stars. The star ratings reflect the overall quality of the
experience. In addition to these ratings some schemes give
supplementary Silver or Gold awards to further recognise
excellence. To find out more about these schemes contact:
Quality in Tourism
Security House
Ashchurch
Tewkesbury
Gloucestershire
GL20 8NB
Tel: 0845 300 6996
http://www.qualityintourism.com/
AA Hotel Services
Fanum House
Basing View
Basingstoke
RG21 4EA
Tel: 01256 844455
http://www.theaa.com/
All Hotel, Guest House or Bed and Breakfast
establishments marketed through the White Cliffs Country Guide or
website are required to sign up to Dover District Council’s ‘Code
of Practice’. The code of practice gives customers the
assurance that all accommodation is available as tourist
accommodation and is promoted as such, maintaining a high level of
quality at all times.
Kent Quality Tourism Programme
Free advisory visits on how to bring your
accommodation up to the standard needed to obtain a grading through
Visit Britain or AA are available through the Kent Quality Tourism
Programme. To find out more or to arrange a visit please
contact hilary.moger@kent.gov.uk or
tel: 01233 503838.
Starting up a new Business
Information and advice to help you start a Bed
& Breakfast or Self-Catering business can be found in the
following fact sheets. For advice on marketing your property
please visit our Marketing page.
Further useful information http://www.accommodationknowhow.co.uk/default.aspx
Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Scheme (VAQAS)
VAQAS is Visit Britain’s quality assessment
service for all types of visitor attractions. This service
was launched nationally in 2001 and participants from White Cliffs
Country are Deal Castle, Dover Castle, Pines Garden Museum &
Tea Room, Richborough Roman Fort, The Secret Gardens of Sandwich
and Walmer Castle.
Included in the assessment are all areas of
the visitor experience from initial enquiry to departure.
Assessments can take place at any time when the attraction is open
and are on an annual basis, following on from the assessment is a
one-to-one debrief. An assessment report is provided after
each visit and if the attraction is successful they will get the
‘Quality Assured Visitor Attraction’ accreditation. For more
details see the Visit Britain website http://www.tourismtrade.org.uk/.
Visit Attraction - Code of Practice
Inline with other accreditation standards, it
is now Visit England’s policy to only list those attractions
providers on their website that have signed up to the Code
of Practice or are VAQAS accredited.
The Code of Practice is free and once signed
is valid until further notice. Dover District Council fully endorse
these new terms and from 2010, will only advertise those with VAQAS
or Code of Practice accreditation.
Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS)
The Green Tourism Business Scheme is the leading environmental
accreditation system of tourism related businesses in Europe.
Members of the scheme are making a commitment towards reducing the
impact of their business on the environment. The scheme has
three levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold and assessment visits take
place every two years. For more information on the scheme
please visit the Quality and Accreditation page on the Tourism South East website