Risk Management Archives - EBI International Consulting Group

Hostel Safety during Covid-19

Covid

Nov 20, 2020 | Covid, Risk Management, Travel Safety, Youth Travel

As full members of WYSETC we applaud the confederation’s initiative as outlined in the weekly newsletter of September 25, 2020, to develop the WYSE COVID-19 safe accommodation declaration as a good first step in ensuring guests are assured of a safe and comfortable stay in hostels. We were happy to offer our expertise as contributors, however small, this summer as the confederation was trying to finalize the concept. Furthermore, as the Canadian representative on ISO/PAS 5643 — Measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus, an ISO committee focused on managing COVID-19 in tourism, we believe we have every interest in ensuring the seal succeeds. However, we also are concerned about the practical limits of such an approach. EBI Group is in the business of doing customized risk management and quality assurance audits activities, and this seems particularly apposite for our comments below; and as such, we offer the following observations:

The WYSE-TC program is self-declaration. This is in contrast to ISO standards certification procedures, which set out a clear set of processes and rules in order for an operator to be successfully certified, and clear conditions are attached to this certification; however, the anti-COVID-19 sanitary seals do not have clear, detailed rules for obtaining and keeping the declaration. We would encourage WYSETC to clarify the audit process and requirements, as well as how the weekly spot check would be carried out. As well, we would encourage participating hostels to invest in a third-party audit with us or some other professional firm to help build capacity and refine policies and procedures.

The newsletter mentions that “[i]f an accommodation provider is not able to commit to the required standards; it will be removed from the scheme.” We suggest that it be clearer that this would be indicated to travellers.

Sanitary labels are essentially newly described protocols to tackle and prevent COVID-19 spread. They are quite generic, and therefore a particular degree of customization is needed in our opinion to adapt them individually for each hotel, hostel, resort chain, or other establishment seeking this certification. We have not identified such a developed approach yet. We would encourage participating operators to engage with a specialized firm that can handle such projects.

We look forward to the implementation of the WYSETC plan to help tourism businesses recover from this unprecedented challenge.

Nov 20, 2020 No Comments

Are new COVID-19 travel safety seals that credible?

Covid

Sep 30, 2020 | Covid, Risk Management, Travel Safety

In today’s Covid-19 stricken world, safety seals are becoming now the main tool to assure potential hotels, hostels and resorts bookers – their selection of a specific place is indeed right, and they could feel relatively safe through their stay. Concerns and case studies from this past 2020 summer provide strong testimonials that these seals are oftentimes not that credible and were awarded too easily because they do not follow a professional and meticulous verification or audit step phase approach.

The EBI Group experts have identified just some key concerns as follows:

Some individual establishments in “red” countries have been awarded international sanitary clearances, whereas the general national situation does not justify any awarding. A situation that could become highly misleading and harmful to potential visitors.

Unlike ISO standards certifications, for example, where a clear professional echelon dictates clear “rules of the game” to get successfully certified, and clear conditions are attached to the certification, the anti-COVID-19 sanitary seals do not have clear, detailed rules for obtaining and keeping the certification. It might be the case that these will come over the coming months (or not), as the awarding process appears to have been done quite hastily and under strong pressure to open very quickly.

Much more credibility (of the sanitary seal) might be achieved as travel and hospitality establishments will occasionally fail to obtain the seal. Only those really committed and proving outstanding cleanliness and sanitary measures over time will ultimately receive it.

Sanitary labels are essentially newly described protocols to tackle and prevent Covid-19 spread. They are quite generic, and therefore a particular conversion phase is needed, in our opinion, to adapt them individually for each hotel, hostel, resort chain, or other establishment seeking this certification. We have not identified such a developed conversion phase yet. Furthermore, we can often see that “corners are sometimes being cut” not to deter guests from placing a booking.

Lastly, the sanitary and anti-COVID-19 labels tend to concentrate on mainly the highly visible “front end operations” and could neglect the less visible (to the guest) back end issues. It is natural that investing in physical partitions, encapsulations, hand sanitation stations, etc. would preside over to assure the concerned guests quickly, but what about preventive maintenance and re-configuration of operations to suit the new post-COVID-19 world? Issues the guests cannot identify fast or at all but are essential to allow their long-lasting well-being.

EBI Consulting Group believes in laying profound and solid foundations for these sanitary anti-COVID-19 seals to be effective in the longer run. Coming from the world of Quality Assurance, we know that without having clear Standards of Operations, professional work instructions, and a solid verification (audit) tools – COVID 19 infections and contaminations might ultimately repeat in any establishment, foregoing all efforts invested in preventing them.

Sep 30, 2020 No Comments

The Art of Statistical Forecasting during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Consulting

Apr 9, 2020 | Consulting, Risk Management

During these trying days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are being overwhelmed by internet sites (eg. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html) or TV pundits where we are looking at the hard data that is being received and sometimes not received and then having this data projected forward. All these are bio-statistical forecasts which try to predict the Corona virus survival chances in each country, such as the number of forecasted patients, the number of forecasted dead and the associated timelines for these events to happen. Terminology such as ‘flattening the curve”, ‘reaching the forecast apex by that date’, ‘and ‘we need to smoothen the trajectories of the curves’ have all come into common parlance among TV pundits, both experts and non-experts. We take these pronouncements at face value as we do not have the knowledge on how exactly these forecasts were derived.

In reality, no matter how hard forecasts try to provide accurate, unbiased estimations, they are often reliant on many unknown factors such as the following:

Will the public continue to abide by confinement restrictions;
Will the weather improve;
Will the testing continue to expand;

If any of the assumptions based on the past data are wrong, then the forecast is going to be misleading at best and potentially damaging (at least economically) at worst. We have seen this recently in the constantly changing forecasts of death in the USA from 250,000 on down. Yet with all its shortcomings, forecasts are a crucially important tool as they provide clear targets to which we can strive. They also provide some order and logic when the world seems to be heading into chaos. This provides an emotional comfort zone for people who fear what is happening around them and more importantly what the future portends.

The experts in statistical forecasting at EBI Consulting understand the fear of the unknown future and help to try to allay those fears by helping companies figure out how best to cope in times of uncertainty such as these.

Apr 9, 2020 No Comments

Managing financial risks in crisis mode

Consulting

Mar 22, 2020 | Consulting, Risk Management, Youth Travel

We are currently living through very turbulent times wherever we may be on this planet.

Who knows what our businesses will look like on the other side, always assuming we make it? Such conjecture though is for tomorrow, now is the time to devote all our energy to battening down the hatches and doing all we can just to survive. The time for DISASTER RECOVERY will (hopefully) come later. For now it’s all about survival and in this context the thing that should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind is CASH IS KING.

Managing financial risks in crisis mode is all about cash flow. For many businesses this will be the most acute financial crisis they have ever faced. Every organisation is juggling remote working, staff absences (or immediate heightened risk of absences) and income uncertainty and this is especially so for those businesses operating in the front-line travel and hospitality sector.

Be realistic about how much any crisis management activities might cost. Review your upcoming costs and delay any non-essential costs to protect cash flow. Any planned expenditure for now should almost certainly be put on hold, at least until the dust settles and a way forward can be clearly seen. With so much uncertainty around cash flow, forecasts need to be prepared under various scenarios. We are in unknown territory so there is a need to think through some worst case scenarios. ‘What if…’ questions have never been more relevant.

And finally before making any drastic step-change decisions, ensure you have considered all ways of managing cash through operational measures, borrowing etc and have taken professional advice if necessary. You might not have been, but others have lived through such crises before and lived to tell the tale!

As “been there, done that” professionals, we’re here for you.

Mar 22, 2020 No Comments

Latest progress in the development of new ISO standard in managing risk for youth and school trips

Consulting

Jan 7, 2020 | Consulting, ISO standard, Risk Management, Travel Safety, Uncategorized, Youth Travel

Photo: Guillermo Zacal, President of ISO Copolco, and Joël Marier, Vice president of EBI Consulting, at the 41st annual ISO/COPOLCO Plenary meeting in Zimbabwe, May 2019

In developing an international standard, there are three phases – first, getting the ISO community to recognize the need for a new standard; second, crafting a roadmap on how we will develop the standard; and third, drafting and getting the standard approved. This does not happen in a vacuum – 164 countries confer and have to reach a consensus, involving a large range of stakeholders (industry, government, consumers, etc.)

The first phase was completed in May 2019, with the ISO COPOLCO plenary adopting the motion at its meeting in Zimbabwe. Since receiving the green light there, we have assembled a committee of experts to advance into the second phase.

EBI vice president Joël Marier is leading a task group of six national standards bureaux (from Germany, France, Japan, India, Trinidad & Tobago and Canada) working on this project to identify industry experts in the fields of education, risk management, and tourism who have helped craft the terms of reference clarifying how this standard will be developed. We have now started consulting the member countries of ISO COPOLCO to get their approval of this document.

As part of this consultation phase ISO COPOLCO is seeking approval of the roadmap and has asked the member countries, “Can you share any information about national practices, guidelines and methodologies for managing risk for youth and school field trips in your country?” With this, we hope to gather the best practices from around the globe to augment the work to date.

As well, at the annual meeting of the World Youth Student Travel Conference held in Lisbon in October, Joël Marier was elected to the travel safety panel of the World Youth Student Education Travel Confederation. His input on the panel will help us continue to build support in the international youth and student travel community.

As we work our way through this lengthy process, we are reminded of why we are doing this: preventable tragedies are unfortunately frequent around the world. In Canada, a teacher has recently been ordered to stand trial after he oversaw a 2017 school trip that resulted in the drowning death of a student. We hope with this standard to avert any other such tragedies from occurring in years to come.

The EBI team has developed an expertise in youth tourism and student travel over the years and is now applying this knowledge to help organizations (through conducting audits and developing policies) to mitigate risk.

For more information, please contact us at joel.marier@ebiconsulting.ca.

Jan 7, 2020 No Comments

2 Degrees Transformational Travel Becomes First Inbound Tour Operator to Earn EBI Level 1 Travel Safety Certification

Consulting

Oct 9, 2019 | Consulting, Risk Management, Travel Safety, Youth Travel

October 10, 2019, Lisbon, Portugal – The Canadian company 2 Degrees Transformational Travel has earned the EBI Level 1 Travel Safety Certification, becoming the first international inbound tour operator to achieve such recognition.

EBI Group Inc. launched at the 28th annual meeting of the World Youth Student Travel Conference in Lisbon its Travel Safety Level 1 Certification. This certification uses a rigorous analytical approach to measure where organizations stand in terms of risk mitigation to ensure traveller’s safety and security. Level 1 certifications focus on the areas of regular operations, policies, and staff training.

Safety and security are the new growing requests from young travellers. Reputations and financial goals are at risk. Many businesses and travel networks around the globe are looking at ways to rapidly adapt their operations to the new safety and security requirements. The international team of EBI experts helped 2 Degrees Transformational Travel to protect its long-term reputation through a customized strategy in travel risk management, quality assurance, and the implementation of international safety standards and tools. EBI Travel Safety certifications showcase the progress of organizations that reach specific safety and security benchmarks.

“It is remarkable to see the interest and the progress 2 Degrees Transformational Travel has made in the area of risk mitigation after completing the EBI risk self-assessment tool. 2 Degrees Transformational Travel completed a thorough assessment for its regular operations and, together, we reviewed and refined the effectiveness of its policies. We developed the company’s expertise and practices to maximize safety during travel for students and groups of young travellers. This is the result of a highly focused and structured approach, with clear goals and accountability for reaching international standards in the process,” stated Joël Marier, Vice-president of the EBI Consulting Group.

“Safety and security for our customers is an ongoing agenda. EBI helped us develop our strategy and tools. They were reflected in new policies and staff training materials to better integrate best practices and international standards in our regular operations. The EBI certification will help us position our company on the international market as a solid tour operator focused on travel safety. This certification shows that an independent company has verified our risk management policies and practices. The certification will help us gain even more trust from our partners, student customers, and their parents.” says Kim Carvajal, CEO of 2 Degrees Transformational Travel.

EBI grants two levels of certification. During a Level 2 certification, EBI will assess operations and develop policies to mitigate risk in extraordinary situations. The process includes the implementation of a quality assurance management system to ensure consistency and continuity in risk management best practices.
EBI is committed to achieving sustainable businesses in youth tourism and student travel worldwide by helping them adapt their operations and leadership to safety requirements and opportunities.

About EBI
EBI Group is a premier Canadian-based international consultancy service that offers individually and collectively, value-for-money expertise in youth tourism leadership and management. EBI is leading initiatives at the international level to develop reliable and realistic youth tourism and student travel standards and policies. They are aimed at providing safe, secure and unique customer experiences for young travellers worldwide.
EBI Consulting Group provides total end-to-end solutions by integrating Safety and Security Standards in a comprehensive Quality Assurance system to ensure customized Travel Risk Management.
For mare information visit ebiconsulting.ca.

About 2 Degrees Transformational Travel
2 Degrees Transformational Travel was created to share our values around culture, the environment, and our place in it. We believe in the power of growing young minds, expanding perspectives, and teaching through travel. We use the beauty of Vancouver, Canada, to inspire and connect students to the world around them, from sustainability to new cultures and environmental awareness.
2 Degrees signifies what makes us different from other student travel programs. We teach how closely connected we are to the environment. Our program fosters the “Whom You Know” the “2 Degrees of Connection”, creating pathways both personally and professionally. It also emphasizes the behaviours needed to prevent a 2-degree rise in global temperatures. Most importantly, it refers to personal growth and our goal for participants to experience a 2 Degree shift in their perspective of the world.
For more information visit: 2degrees.travel

For more information contact:
Joël Marier
Vice-president
joel.marier@ebiconsulting.ca

Oct 9, 2019 No Comments