The "Competence Based Qualifications for the Tourism Sector" study, commissioned by the Portuguese Confederation of Tourism (CTP) to Quaternaire Portugal, aimed at the development of qualifications standards based on skills for the tourism sector. The development of these qualifications standards was based on a deep diagnosis of skills needs performed also by Quaternaire for the CTP. That previous study brought key information to support the work of building the competence based benchmarks. This work included the organization of a new proposal for qualifications for the sector, the definition of an innovative certification strategy and the development of standards based on competencies which, for the first time, applied the methodology adopted by ANQEP to the process of updating and renewal of the National Catalogue of Qualifications.