Importance of hygiene and sanitation in tourism services
Hygiene:
Hygiene refers to the set of practices associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. People involved in the tourism business are required to maintain hygienic standards as they are directly dealing with tourists. Tourists (especially western tourists) normally live in clean surroundings and have a habit of practicing hygienic behavior. To ensure their health as well as to make them feel good, people in tourism should be aware of standard norms and practices of hygiene and sanitation.
Followings are a few tips for maintaining hygiene and sanitation:
1. Stay neat and clean by maintaining your own personal hygiene. Suggest friends, staff, and family members also to stay clean.
2. Practice keeping the surrounding of your restaurant, hotel, lodge, tea shop and own house, animals house clean. Keep some plants, flower pots, etc. for fragrance and beauty. Be careful these should not attract insects.
3. Set the norms/rules for regular cleaning and maintenance of every corner of your business. Such as:
Kitchen: clean wall, stove, glass, utensils, tables, chairs, floor, etc. regularly with (if possible hot) water and (liquid) soap. Make sure all cooking and serving utensils must be clean and dry. There is a chance of growing bacteria when these are wet.
Room: bed linens, including pillow cover, must be cleaned and changed regularly every time tourist comes. The windows and floors of the room must be clean. Put a garbage bin in the room and empty this each day.
Toilet: Toilet pan or hole must be clean and free from odor. Clean the toilet every day and immediately after a group leaves. If available, use Phenol/Dettol to keep the toilet clean and odor-free. Use of lemon/Orange peels or petals of flowers from your own garden also helps to keep the toilet odor-free. But make sure you change these when there is no fragrance from these things.
If there is a basin in the toilet it must be clean. Empty it at least once a day. The floor, door, and windows of the toilet have to be clean as well. The toilet must have water and soap for cleaning. Make sure there is a place with soap where tourists and you can wash hands after going to the toilet
Others: garbage containers must be covered and emptied regularly. Drainage
pipe, sewage, etc. must be regularly clean.
4. Advice all the employees to practice the set norms.
5. Do not throw rubbish everywhere. Collect rubbish and dispose of them in a proper place with proper waste disposal techniques.
6. Avoid spitting anywhere. Advice children, neighbors, and employees also not to do this.
