The aim of VAKINN is to strengthen quality, safety and environmental awareness in Icelandic tourism as well as developing a sense of social responsibility.

The quality system is divided in to two categories; star grading for accommodation and tourism services other than accommodation.

The classification for tourism services other than accommodation is based on two types of criteria; general criteria and specific criteria for each activity.

This is not a star grading system; either the companies fulfill  all the requirements or not.  The companies have to fulfill 70% of the general requirements to qualify, in addition to all the specific requirements that apply to the company in question.

CRITERIA

1. General criteria is valid for all types of operation (apart from accommodation)and focuses on:
   
   1. Sale and purchase of goods or services
   2. Customer service and customer satisfaction
   3. Facilities, equipment and immediate vicinity
   4. Management and staff
   5. Culture and history
   6. Safety, welfare and responsibility
   7. Company management and overall performance
       
2. Specific criteria that apply to individual type of operation. There are 24 categories of specific criteria. See here

To qualify for a VAKINN certification

  It is necessary to meet 70% of the general criteria and all the specific criteria

To be certified the companies must meet 70% of the general criteria. However there are minimum requirements that everyone must fulfil. The remainder falls into the other three levels (good, better, best). Furthermore, all holders of a VAKINN certification must meet 100% of the specific criteria relevant to the categories within which they operate. 

Quality matters

Success in the tourism industry is based on vigorous marketing activities; little is to be gained by such efforts, however, if the guests’ actual experiences on location clash with their expectations. The World Wide Web, and its increasing importance in recent years, has revolutionised the marketing landscape. Travel websites and interactive venues (for example, TripAdvisor, Facebook, Twitter etc.) have provided consumers with rapidly expanding opportunities for publishing their perspectives. When people make travel-related decisions they look increasingly for comments made by earlier visitors. What were their experiences? Did the trip live up to their expectations? Quality issues are therefore the most important factor for the reputation of Icelandic tourism and participating in a quality system can also create a competitive advantage for the companies participating.

  Over 65% of foreign tourists claim that a quality certification would have an impact on the choice of service provider.*

* A survey from the Icelandic Tourist Board among foreign tourist in Iceland in the winter of 2011-2012