Quality management in tourism

Dr : Mahmoud Moawad
Introduction
The quality
The last twenty years have witnessed many changes in the ways
of providing and consuming services, and this in turn requires
the public administration to pay attention to the quality of
service, which has become a special rank in the recent period
locally and globally, and quality represents a vital and
important requirement in all business sectors, due to the
increasing intensity of international competition. Quality
concepts have been applied in many service activities and
industries, as well as in the tourism services industry, where the
quality of tourism services represents the backbone for the
development of this industry and the ruling element for
building in the local market and the industrial market,
especially in light of the fierce competition between tourist
destinations.
Tourism plays an important role in the life of societies and is
seen as the engine of economic development in all countries
of the world. It is considered a complex and intertwined
industry of several industries and disparate activities such as
the transportation industry, the hotel industry, tourism
companies, the activity of tour operators, etc., which
contribute to the growth and prosperity of these industries that
are complementary to and related to tourism activity. .
The world is also witnessing a huge revolution in the field of
communications and information, which has made the world a
small global village, and has contributed to the spread of
 globalization, opening the door to the international trading
system and breaking the barrier between the countries of the
world, and as a result, the intensity of competition between
countries or institutions to increase their market share.
In recent years, the issue of quality has become one of the
most important issues, especially in light of international
changes, challenges, and rapid and successive crises that
arise, and usually require marketing means and services of a
type different from the marketing tools that were used in
traditional tourism, and also need new patterns to deal with
tourist markets that prevail. The logic of international
informatics networks and technological communications.
Quality is a vital and important requirement in all business
sectors, due to the increasing intensity of international
competition. Quality concepts have been applied in many
activities and service industries, including the tourism industry
and its fields, and the related tourism and hotel services of all
kinds.
The issue of quality is one of the most important challenges
facing the travel and tourism industry in the new millennium,
despite being one of the bases supporting this activity. institutions

In order to develop and grow, quality management and

achieving customer satisfaction has become a challenge for all
institutions, organizations, governments, and service institutions
of all kinds in particular. Their satisfaction and fulfillment and
loyalty to the institution that provides these services, especially in
light of the information and communication technology
revolution, which led to easy access to information for customers
and enabled them to choose between services according to their
desires and choices. Quality issues are very important for tourism
destinations and organizations to enhance long-term innovation,
competitiveness, and sustainability. Hence improving quality in
tourism products and services needs the commitment of tourism
operators in terms of innovation, continuous improvement, and
renewal [1] aimed to enhance tourism industry. However, in the
authors’ opinion, the search for quality previously requires a deep
understanding of what quality is (including the diverse concepts
of what it is and its evolution), how it is conceived and perceived
by host communities, operators, policymakers, and tourists; and
how tourism developments affect opinions, experiences,
expectations, and the satisfaction of customers and residents [2].
Moreover, the search for quality issues in the tourism industry,
must go further from a simplistic focus on a narrow aspect related
to tourism products or services or to the managerial approach.
Therefore, a deep review of the literature about quality in tourism
literature is needed, in order to understand the complexity of the
problem.
Customers today expect a very high overall level of service in
hospitality, tourism, and leisure. Competition in these fields will
thus be driven by strategies focusing on quality of service to add
value, as opposed to product or price differentiation.
 Service Quality Management in Hospitality, Tourism, and
Leisure highlights concepts and strategies that will improve the
delivery of hospitality services, and provides clear and simple
explanations of theoretical concepts as well as their practical
applications! Practitioners and educators alike will find this book
to be invaluable in their businesses and in preparing students for
the business world.

This essential book provides you with clear, comprehensive

explanations of theoretical concepts and methods that will give
you the competitive edge in this fast-changing field

Any organization aims at the Customer' satisfaction by

meeting their needs through providing services (products) and
fulfilling their desires. Quality is the basis in the Customer's
selection a certain service. It is important to take into
consideration how the Customer judges the high from the low
quality. So, the customer is the main element in any organization.
Total Quality Management (TQM) is important for tourism
organizations to improve the quality in Tourism sector; in
addition to help them improve their management and increase
employees' productivity.
 Quality in the tourism and hospitality industry involves
consistent delivery of products and guest services according to
expected standards. Delivering quality service is one of the major
challenges the hospitality managers will be facing in the
following years as it is an essential condition for success in the
emerging, keenly competitive, global hospitality markets. There
are various tools that measure and improve quality service, as
well as mechanisms for quality recognition in the tourism and
hospitality industry. The managers should identify, record and
weigh up the impacts of cost-profit and be in a position to
prioritise towards a quality improvement process for their own
property. tourism stakeholders perceive quality service in a hotel
as value for money, a comfortable room, friendly staff and tasty
food. Moreover, always room for further improvement of the
hospitality services. the most important factors for a hotel’s
future are guest satisfaction, guest retention and word of mouth
advertising. Aiming at excellence and profitability, the outcomes
of the survey suggest focus on quality service; retention of
existing guests by exceeding their expectations; continuous
quality improvement; employment, regular training and
empowerment of service-oriented staff; search for best practices
through benchmarking; and, finally, pursuit of quality
accreditation through the various schemes, such as the eco-labels,
ISO and the EU Foundation for Quality Management.
The Meanings of “Quality.” Of the many meanings of the word
“quality,” two are of critical importance to managing for
quality:
“Quality” means those features of products which meet
customer needs and thereby provide customer satisfaction. In
this sense, the meaning of quality is oriented to income.
The purpose of such higher quality is to provide greater
customer satisfaction and, one hopes, to increase income.
However, providing more and/or better quality features usually
requires an investment and hence usually involves increases in
costs. Higher quality in this sense usually “costs more.” -
“Quality” means freedom from deficiencies—freedom from
errors that require doing work over again (rework) or that result
in field failures, customer dissatisfaction, customer claims, and
so on. In this sense, the meaning of quality is oriented to costs,
and higher quality usually “costs less.” Satisfaction and
Dissatisfaction Are Not Opposites. Customer satisfaction
comes from those features which induce customers to buy the
product. Dissatisfaction has its origin in deficiencies and is why
customers complain. Some products give little or no
dissatisfaction; they do what the producer said they would do.
Yet they are not salable because some competing product has
features that provide greater customer satisfaction. The early
automated telephone exchanges employed electromagnetic
analog switching methods. Recently, there was a shift to digital
switching methods, owing to their superior product features.
As a result, analog switching systems, even if absolutely free
from product deficiencies, were no longer salable.
Thus Quality can evolve several definitions such as:
 customer satisfaction and loyalty
 Do right things right.
 providing a product which is 'fit for the purpose'
 providing an acceptable product at an acceptable cost
 A standard which can be accepted by both the supplier and
the customer.
 The totality of features or characteristics of a product that
bear on its ability to satisfy a given need.
  Fitness for use.

Big Q and Little Q. Definitions of words do not remain

static. Sometimes they undergo extensive change. Such a
change emerged during the 1980s. It originated in the
growing quality crisis and is called the concept of “Big Q.”
Table 1 shows how the quality “umbrella” has been broadening
dramatically. In turn, this broadening has changed the meanings
of some key words. Adoption of Big Q grew during the 1980s,
and the trend is probably irreversible. Those most willing to
accept the concept of Big Q have been the quality managers and
the upper managers. Those most reluctant have been managers in
the technological areas and in certain staff functions.
Table 1
Definitions of Quality Terms
To take a closer look at the quality management, an explanation
of some facts, terminology and regulations concerning quality
seems to be necessary. What needs to be revealed first of all, is
what quality and quality management actually mean, what the
dimensions of quality are, and what the differences between
services quality management and product quality management
are. Quality means different things to different people – there
exists no uniformly accepted definition of service quality. There
are various well known definitions of quality: “conformance to
requirement” , “fitness for use”, “the degree of conformance to
a standard”, “user satisfaction”. It is interesting to note that
satisfying the customers’ needs and expectations is the main
factor in all these definitions. However it happens that a supply of
a service or product may be of the highest standard, but the
customer may have unreasonable expectations, which cannot be
met by any means at all. Official definitions of quality
terminology were first standardized in 1978 by the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society for
Quality Control (ASQC). Quality was defined as “the totality of
features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on
its ability to satisfy given needs”. Since 1987 according to the
standard ISO 9000 quality is defined as “a degree to which a set
of inherent (existing) characteristics fulfil the requirements” .The
above mentioned definition indicates the specific set of adjectives
the word quality should be described with (e.g. low, good, perfect
etc.). It also implies that we must be able to identify the features
and characteristics of products and services that relate to quality,
and form the basis for measurement and control. Fulfilling the
requirements reflects the value of the product as well as the
service to the customer, including not only economic value but
also other factors such as safety, reliability or maintainability.
Below see some more definitions of quality. Each definition has
its own group of supporters, and various schools of quality have
grown up around particular versions. This has led to
fragmentation and confusion in the field of quality. As the given
example shows, the quality can and needs to be viewed from
several different perspectives. The main problem is how to create
the basis of quality in companies, how it depends on work
environment and how it looks like in particular sectors (industry,
services etc.).

Most of the service quality definitions fall within the “customer-

led” category. Many researchers define quality as “consistently
meeting or exceeding customer’s expectations”. To describe the
various viewpoints of quality that are commonly used.
Concepts of quality Five basic terms can be addressed
depending on their importance in the correct use of
standards at the international level:
Quality Policy: Quality Policy
It represents the overall quality concerns and attitudes of an
organization regarding quality, as formally endorsed by senior
management. The quality policy is an element of the corporate
policy and is approved by the senior management.
Quality Management:
The management function is to define and implement the quality
policy, and this requires:
Achieving the desired quality requires the commitment and
participation of all members of the organization, while the
responsibility of quality management is limited to the top
management.
Quality management includes strategic planning, resource
allocation, and regular quality activities such as quality
planning, operation, and evaluation.
Quality System:
The organizational structure, responsibilities, procedures,
processes and resources to implement quality management,
which requires:
The quality system should be as comprehensive as needed to
achieve the quality objectives.
Clarifying the way to implement some elements in the system
for contracting or evaluation purposes.

Quality Control
Operational methods and activities used to achieve quality
requirements.
comments:
To avoid confusion, modified terms should be used when
referring to a part of the quality control system such as
manufacturing quality control or when referring to a broader
concept such as quality control for the company in general.
The quality control process includes operational methods and
activities aimed at monitoring the process and eliminating the
causes of unsatisfactory performance at the relevant stages in the
quality cycle to obtain effective economic results.
Quality Assurance:
Planned and organized actions necessary to give reasonable
confidence that a product or service will meet quality
requirements.
Quality assurance will not be complete unless there are clear
requirements that reflect the needs of the user.
To obtain an appropriate effectiveness, the quality assurance
process needs a continuous evaluation of the elements that
reflect the suitability of the design and specifications for the
required applications, in addition to verifying and modifying the
production, installation and inspection processes. The granting
of trust may require the provision of evidence.
The quality assurance process is used within the organization as
a management tool. While trust is given to the supplier in
contracting cases.
The organization should try to achieve the following three
quality objectives:
• To check and maintain the quality of the product or service to
achieve the requirements of customers on an ongoing basis.
• To give confidence to its management in its ability to achieve
and maintain the required quality.
• The establishment must give confidence to its customers in its
ability to achieve and maintain the required quality of the
product or service. In contracting cases, this may include
submitting an offer proving that.

Historical development of quality science:

Quality science passed through several stages:
1- Examination: It is sorting the good from the bad, testing for
errors that may exist in a commodity, or testing the extent to
which a specific raw material or product conforms to the
standard specifications of this particular raw material or product.
2- Quality control: It is a system that is established to examine
the steps of manufacturing a product, starting from quality
testing of the raw material to the various manufacturing steps
and following up on quality during storage and circulation.
3- Quality Assurance System: It is already possible to anticipate
the type and locations of possible problems and to a large extent
to prevent them. It is a well-thought-out system in an orderly
manner to ensure and confirm the quality of a specific product
that meets consumer requests and is in accordance with local
and international laws and regulations and the internal
specifications of the organization, all of which is provided that
its production costs are certain. .
4- Total Quality Management System: The system that began to
be thought of in the thirties, that is, more than seventy years ago,
when the two scientists, Edwaeds Dwming and Joseph Juran,
began to lay the scientific basis for the quality control system
and the statistical control system for manufacturing in the
United States of America, and then Japanese scientists began to
develop Total quality management and the establishment of
several schools in America, Japan and Europe.

Stages of quality development:

The first stage of quality development:
The company supplies the customer with any product as a result,
even if it is in violation of the specifications, and does not do
anything to remedy the violations until the customer submits a
complaint and returns the violating products again to the
company.
This method has become costly for the company, especially
when it has competitors who can supply the product without any
irregularities in it, and this is what forced the company to make
a change in managing its work.
The second stage of quality development:
At this stage of development, the company began to examine the
product in the last stage of production or before shipping the
product to the customer.
Although this method is better than the previous one, as it has
reduced the number of customer complaints, the company has
realized the extent of the loss incurred by producing products
that are quickly rejected when ready to be shipped. Therefore, it
has understood that it is better for it to detect defects in products
early during its production processes, which allows stopping the
defective material that is being manufactured early before it
proceeds to the next stages in production and becomes a finished
product.

The third stage of the development of the quality system:

At this stage of quality development, a quality department was
established in the company. This department was entrusted with
the tasks of monitoring product quality, testing it, and reporting
on it during the production stages that the company goes
through.
This stage of quality development enabled early detection of
defects and statistical techniques were used in production
control, which allowed early detection of deviations before
defects occurred.
However, there are still problems. The more samples the quality
department tests, the longer the time for production departments
to get test results. It may take minutes, hours, or entire shifts for
the operator to be notified of the stoppage.
To solve this problem, it was necessary to train the worker on
statistical methods to control the operations he carries out, and
this is what led to the fourth stage of quality development.

The fourth stage of quality development:

This stage allowed the worker himself to perform the statistical
control of the operations he carries out, and this is what is called
“quality at origin”. This stage allowed the worker to discover the
extent of deviation in the part he produced from the permissible
limits, which enabled him to stop the appropriate production and
prevent defective products from being obtained.
However, there are still cases that lead to problems in the quality
of the products and fall outside the control of the operator
himself. This led to the next stage of quality development, which
necessitated the participation of all departments of the company
in the quality program.

Fifth stage of quality development:

At this stage of quality development, every worker in the
company, from the design process of the product through the
process of purchasing raw materials to the final production and
delivery to the customer, is aware that the company's goal is to
produce products at the lowest prices and the best quality and
deliver them to the customer as quickly as possible.
This means that the design must be reproducible, the materials
used to manufacture the product must be of the best quality, and
the production processes must be monitored to achieve the best
quality in the final product.
Under these circumstances, the company can be considered a
World Class Company
Dimensions and quality of service
Service quality has two basic dimensions: the physical quality,
which includes the tangible material aspects that are exposed to
the event of obtaining the service, and the interactive quality,
which represents the performance of the service process itself
during the interaction of the employees of the organization with
customers.
It has been reached to develop ten basic dimensions of quality,
which determine the quality of service according to customer
perception, which have been identified as follows:
1- Reliability, which means the degree of a person in performing
the service and providing it correctly from the first time.
2- The degree of response, which refers to the speed of response
of service providers to the demands and needs of customers.
3- The efficiency and ability of the service providers
Competence, which means that the individuals providing the
service have the capabilities that enable them to provide
distinguished service to customers.

4- Accessibility, which refers to the ease of access to service

providers and contacting them when necessary.
5- Courtesy refers to the good treatment of customers and the
appreciation of their special circumstances.
6- Communication, which means exchanging service-related
information between service providers and customers in an easy
and simplified manner.
7- Credibility, which means the availability of a high degree of
trust in service providers by taking into account the interests and
needs of customers.
8- Security, which means that workers are familiar with their job
duties and in a way that enables them to provide a service free of
any kind of risk.

9- Empathy, attention, and care by making every effort to notify

the client of that.
10- Tangible physical and human aspects, including the external
appearance of equipment, personnel, materials and means of
communication.
Reasons for measuring the level of quality:
Before we measure, you must know what you are measuring and
why, as knowing the reasons for the measurement and
evaluation process leads to significant progress in the results you
obtain.
Reasons for measuring the level of quality and customer
satisfaction
The first reason: getting to know the impressions and
opinions of customers:
While many measurement programs try to reach an average that
represents customer opinions about the level of quality and
service, you have to determine the opinion and impression of
each customer individually in order to be more distinguished
and superior.
The second reason: Determine the client's requirements and
expectations:
The criteria for measuring customer satisfaction should not be
limited to knowing the customer’s opinion about the level of the
product or service, but should also extend to include his needs
and expectations about the sales process as a whole. One of the
success factors of the used measurement program is your
knowledge of the customer’s current and future needs.
The third reason: bridging the gaps and loopholes:
All of these gaps arise from the difference between what the
organization believes it has provided to the customer And what
the customer thinks he has received, and here are now a number
of the most important gaps that have arisen through research.
- The gap between what the business owner thinks the client
needs and what the client actually needs.
- The gap between what the business owner thinks the customer
has bought and what the customer thinks he has received.
- The gap between the quality that the business owner thinks he
is providing and the quality that the client thinks he is receiving.
- The gap between customer expectations about service quality
and the real level of service.
- The gap between declared promises and what is being
implemented.
The fourth reason: setting goals:
When you set some goals based on the client's requirements and
needs, and then measure what has been achieved of these stated
goals, you can easily improve quality and performance.
The fifth reason: because advanced performance leads to
increased profit:
Where good service results in the desire of a greater number of
customers to deal with you, and then an increase in the volume
of profits, and since the level of service you provide receives
support and admiration from customers, you can also raise the
prices of the products and services that you provide, because this
high price is in addition to the low cost (resulting from the
quality of the product or service) lead to a significant increase in
profit

The sixth reason: Evaluate your current level and determine

your future plans:
You must also evaluate your current level and be fully aware of
it, and you must be able to collect information that helps you
determine your future plans and you can obtain this information
through research and opinion polls that you conduct on
customers, where the customer tells you if he is satisfied with
The level of service provided to him now and what you should
do to satisfy him in the future.
The seventh reason: being able to continue the development
process:
Remember that your primary goal is to create a long-term
relationship between you and the customer, and this comes by
understanding and meeting his needs and expectations,
removing any gaps that may arise as a result of different
concepts, and constantly trying to develop service levels.

Quality management functions:

- Developing and testing standards and application of licensing
and re-licensing accreditation programs to practice providing
services and products.
- Work on the development of participation standards with
experts in different sectors and agencies.
Providing technical assistance to service providers with regard
to quality improvement programs.
- Developing a follow-up, supervision and reporting system.
Developing training programs on quality concepts.
Support, develop and supervise specialized studies and research
related to quality.
- Establishing a documentation and information center and
providing advanced references on quality programs.

Concept of Total Quality Management (T.Q.M):

The concept of total quality management is defined as “a new
administrative revolution, comprehensive intellectual
development and a new organizational culture. All of these
concepts seek continuous development in operations.”
Total quality management can be defined as “a comprehensive
approach in the sense that it includes all sectors, levels and
functions of the organization with the aim of continuous
improvement in the competitiveness of the efficiency and
flexibility of the entire organization and depends on planning,
organizing and analyzing every activity in the organization and
is based on work teams to improve quality continuously and not
atomic intermittent work .
Total quality management is an approach that relies on self-
monitoring as an alternative to external control, as quality is not
imposed on people, but is followed by them.
The other definition of total quality management is “a culture
and the core of this culture is the total commitment to quality
and the curve that is expressed by everyone involved in the
process of continuity of development of the commodity or
service through the use of the scientific methods used.”
Joseph Jablonsky defined total quality as “a defining form of
doing business that relies on the capabilities and special talents
of both management and employees to continuously improve
quality and productivity through work teams.”

There are many intellectual organizations that mentioned

that total quality management can be summarized as
follows:

than ignoring them or trying to avoid them.

Conviction of the importance of the climate surrounding
management and the development of methods to deal with its
components and influence them

of organizations and administrative methods according to their

data.

that aims at acquaintance and continuous participation of all

employees in order to improve its activities, services and
products in order to achieve satisfaction for all (individuals -
senior management - customers - society).

that the world is an integrated unit and the need

to deviate from the regional and local good in dealing with the
global good.

seeking to form positive alliances.

of individualism and
dispersal, and adopting the concepts of team work and forming
interconnected and interactive systems and networks.

organization, and preparation, and to reduce concepts and

premises that may seem unreasonable or logical.

important basis for the success of the administration and hence

human resource management occupies the greatest interest on
the part of contemporary management.

In order to achieve total quality management and to do its work

if the individuals in the organization want it to work, so
management includes pushing and preparing individuals for the
success of the application, and this represents a great challenge
when trying to create a fundamental change in the culture of the
organization.
These foundations for total quality are:
Proper planning: Total quality management relies primarily on
modern management thinking on proper planning that achieves
the desired goals of the organization, to the reason for its
existence within the framework of its available human and
material capabilities through a time program that is flexible for
procedures to improve the quality of performance and takes into
account the improvement of the ability of workers to absorb
quality concepts and change procedures

Support and endorsement of the senior management of the

total quality management program: One of the most
important factors that help the successful application of total
quality management is the support of the senior management’s
support for it, which follows from its conviction in the necessity
of continuous development and improvement and expresses this
by announcing its desire to implement total quality management
at all levels. administration and its employees, and take plans
and programs to ensure the implementation of this, and provide
all human and material capabilities necessary for the
implementation process, and define the authorities and
responsibilities and find the dividing lines between them
Choosing theappropriate leadership for the work of total
quality management: that the appropriate leadership for the work
of total quality management inside and outside the organization
is the leadership that is not covert, creative, capable of working
in a team spirit, that strives to provide and support an
atmosphere characterized by coordinated teamwork, and pays
balanced attention to the human element and the structural
aspect of the organization It is keen to instill positive values in
relationships and maximize the interest of the individual and the
organization.

Selection of the human element and upgrading its

performance: The human element constitutes an important
requirement towards the application of total quality management
within the organization, so attention must be paid to it in all its
aspects, starting from the development of the selection and
appointment system, job occupancy, performance evaluation,
education programs and continuous training for all levels
according to the quality of skills and behavioral knowledge
necessary for each level, as well as preparing the human element
in the organization at its various levels psychologically to
understand and accept the concepts and practices of total quality
management and their positive impact on the human element
and the organization.

Comprehensiveness, performance, and quality together: that

total quality is not achieved by the efforts and capabilities of one
individual and a limited group of individuals, and that it is not
limited to a specific process or stage in the production and
delivery of a commodity or service. All stages of production and
presentation of what the organization produces and in all its
branches.

Fact-Based Decision Making: Organizations that rely on the

TQM approach follow a structural application and income to
solve problems as opportunities for improvement. The TQM
approach recognizes all individuals involved in the process,
including management executives, workforce, and customers,
and also recognizes that they can participate in reaching bilateral
solutions. Useful and this means understanding the process you
perform and the process performed by those around you,
understanding the cause of your problems and all the
information and data that you will keep your decisions to
improve that process and the overall quality depends to a large
extent on building an excellent team and on effective
communication that enables improvement decisions based on
information and data derived from other facts
Components of total quality management:
There are a set of important elements that lead to achieving the
overall quality of the services provided by the organization,
which enables it to distinguish in the performance of those
services, including:
1- Market and customer research: Achieving the
comprehensive quality of seriousness requires a clear and
accurate understanding of customers’ needs, through:
Market research: It is a systematic study of the structure of the
market served by the organization and its movement. This
requires accurate identification of the market, analysis of the
characteristics of the population, and identification of the main
and vital goals that the organization must achieve in addition to
identifying the capabilities of competitors.
Customer Perceptions Research: It is the knowledge of
customers’ expectations and ideas towards the service as well as
the direction of the organization and the acquisition of the factor
and the main factors that determine the customer’s perception of
the overall experience of the service that he obtains from the
organization. Or to switch to another competitor, and these
criteria are what are the customers’ expectations for the service
provided.

2- Configuring the strategy: The service strategy can be

defined as adding a distinctive feature to service provision, and
this strategy is closely linked to very carefully considered
proposals that represent the customer’s value and help establish
more competition. The criteria for an effective service strategy
include the following:
• Representing the service strategy, the organization's vision is
clear, reflecting the organization's mission and philosophy.
Transferring the concept of the organization's mission and
studying it to all employees in the organization so that it can be
described into practice.
• Focusing on the core values of service, which represent the
highest value for the customer.
• Show the organization in a distinctive way in front of
customers in the face of other competing organizations.
• Excellence in simplicity and ease of drafting so that it is easy
to explain to workers.
3- Training of employees: Distinguished organizations make
efforts and organized procedures to teach employees every
secret about customers, such as the concept of quality and
customer service, and the methods of education, training and
communication play a major role in helping all the
organization’s employees to understand the needs and
expectations of customers and the disappointment of the
organization and the basic task that is due to achieving all of
these the aforementioned efforts

4- The organization exerts it when it succeeds in facing

competition in the market by adhering to the spirit of service
and preserving the values and beliefs that make it real.
Therefore, it can reach distinguished service performance with
great skill and spread the concept of value to customers to all
employees of the organization.

5- Improving operations: The organization must provide

services to its customers to put in place the partial preparations
that may interfere with its progress. Its commitment is at all
levels of leadership to the continuous development and
improvement of quality, and to provide the means that enable it
to perform the work in the form of a loan for both employees
and customers, and for what maintains continuity The
relationship between the organization and customers, all of this
requires examination and confrontation of all political processes,
procedures, rules and methods of work in order to make sure
that the results lead to the achievement of quality.

6- Evaluation, measurement and feedback: Tonner integrated

information system about employees ensures that he gets
feedback on their performance. On the other hand, it is
necessary to provide the necessary encouragement and support
on the part of management. In the form of internal and external
customer satisfaction, and the worker can, through the
aforementioned, succeed in highlighting the value of service to
the customer, and service organizations can support this by
linking
Between imposing the future progress of the employee and I
have the need to highlight the value of service to the customer
and achieve the highest satisfaction rates for him.

Total quality goals and benefits

Developing the quality of products and services while
achieving a reduction in costs and minimizing wasted time and
effort to improve the service provided to customers and gain
their satisfaction. The primary objective of applying the
comprehensive quality management program in companies.
This main objective of quality includes three important main
benefits which are:
1 – Reducing costs:
That quality requires doing the right things the right way the
first time, and this means reducing damaged things or re-
achieving them, and thus reducing costs.

Reducing the time needed to complete tasks for the client:

The procedures set by the institution to deliver services to the
client have focused on achieving and monitoring goals, and
therefore these procedures were long and rigid in many cases,
which had a negative impact on the client.
3- Achieving quality:
By developing products and services as desired by customers,
lack of attention to quality leads to an increase in the time to
perform and complete tasks and an increase in monitoring work
and thus an increase in the complaints of the beneficiaries of
these services.

Objectives and benefits of applying the total quality

management program:
1 - Creating an environment that supports and maintains
continuous development.
2 - Involvement of all workers in the development.
3 - Follow-up and development of tools for measuring the
performance of operations.
4- Reducing the tasks and activities necessary to convert inputs
(raw materials) into products or services of value to customers.
5 - Create a strong customer-focused culture.
6- Improving the quality of outputs.
7 - Increasing efficiency by increasing cooperation between
departments and encouraging teamwork.
8- Improving profitability and productivity.
9 - Teaching management and employees how to identify,
arrange and analyze problems and divide them into smaller ones
so that they can be controlled.

Learn to make decisions based on facts, not feelings.

11 - Training employees on the process development method.
12 - Reducing useless tasks and repetitive work time.
14 - Increase the ability to attract customers and reduce their
complaints.
14 - Improving confidence and work performance of employees.
15- Increasing the percentage of achieving the main objectives
of the company

Principles of total quality management

There is almost a great consensus on defining the main
principles of total quality systems. Determining the basic
principles of total quality management consists of the following:
1- It is normal for all systems to have some differences and
variations in the levels of their activities and results.
2- High quality does not cost much, on the contrary, it saves a
lot in the long run.
3- The suitability of the goal so that it meets the desire and
needs of the client.
Employees work within a well-defined system.
5- Focus on training programmes.
6- That everyone works in customer service.
7- Efforts should be directed through a studied point so that the
behaviors are not the result of reactions, but the behaviors must
be the result of applying a scientific method.
8- Highlighting the quality in the internal operations themselves.
9- To use the concept of improvement as one of the foundations
of life.
10- Directing control over operations and activities, not results.
11- The management of operations and activities should be
based on good use of data and facts, and not on making
decisions based on personal opinions.
12- Hitchens explained that total quality consists of two basic
principles:
A- Existence of a business strategy prepared on the basis of
customer-related data and information aimed at identifying
competitors' strengths and weaknesses.
B- The existence of a policy to improve and develop
administrative structures with the aim of achieving faster rates
of improvement in the performance of work aspects and
adequate services that exceed the rates achieved by other
competitors.
Discusses five different approaches to defining quality.

1) A product-based
Definition describes quality as a precise and measurable
variable and indicates that differences in quality reflect
differences in quantity of some product attribute. Here
“quality” is defined as the units of goodness packed into a
product or service. Thus, a “quality” service will contain more
units of goodness than a lower “quality” service. This
definition relies on the quantification of the service’s units of
goodness or tangible attributes. In practice, however, it is not
easy to clearly identify services’ attributes, let alone quantify
them. In addition, “goodness” is not absolute but relative to a
particular circumstance. For example, customers may judge a
theme park’s production to be of higher quality than a Covent
Garden production. This situation arises despite the fact that a
Covent Garden production will invariably possess more units
of “goodness”. The question is why some people will rate the
quality of a theme park’s production higher?
The higher “service quality” perceived in the theme park is
attained by closely meeting customers’ demands and
expectations. Interestingly, many people perceive that
“quality” is somehow synonymous with “attributes”
2) A process-based definition (supply-led definition)
describes quality as an outcome of engineering and
 manufacturing practice, or “conformance to specification”.
Specifications are targets and tolerances determined by
designers of products and services, and targets are the ideal
values for which production should strive; tolerances are
specified though, because designers realize that it is not
possible to meet the targets all the time. For example, in
services, “on-time arrival” for an airplane might be specified
as within 15 minutes of a scheduled arrival time; the target
is the scheduled time, and the tolerance is specified to be 15
minutes. These definitions lay emphasis on the importance
of the management and control of supply-side quality. The
focus is internal rather than external. Such a definition might
be useful in organizations producing either standard
products or services, or where the output is tangible.
Organizations offering a “standard service” involving “low
or short customer contact”, such as “refuse collection”,
“postal service”, “home deliveries”, “public transport”,
“financial services” and “fast food chains”, may find this
definition useful. This is partly because of the important role
of process in determining the quality of the outcome.

3) A user-based definition
Based on the presumption that quality is determined by what a
customer wants and what he is willing to pay for. Here the
focus is external. “Quality” is defined as “satisfying customer’s
requirements” or “fitness for purpose”. This approach relies on
the ability of the organization to determine customers’
requirements and then meet these requirements. The
“customer-led” definition is probably most appropriate for
organizations offering “high-contact”, “skill-knowledge-
based”, or “labor-intensive” services such as, health care, law,
accountancy, hairdressing, education, consultancy, leisure, and
hotels. Individuals have different needs and hence different
quality standards, therefore quality depends on how well the
product or service performs its intended function,
4) the value-based definition
States out that quality is defined in terms of costs and prices –
a quality product is the one that provides performance at an
acceptable price or conformance at an acceptable level.
“Quality”, here, is defined either as the “cost to the producer
and price to the customer” or as “meeting the customer’s
requirements in terms of quality, price, and availability”. The
focus again is external. The transcendent definition of quality
is characterized by an image of excellence as perceived by the
competency of employees, the availability of additional
services, or the availability of advanced technology (on-line
booking, business center, professional conference rooms).
These judgments are made by guests and third-party
organizations (tour-operators, business partners). Auditing of
employees efficiency and resource consumption views quality
along the product-based dimension. The guests’ perception of
services and equipment is focused on the user-based definition,
which influences business hotels and forces them to provide
services to meet these expectations. It is not constant and may
change according to changes in fashion, education level,
experience, technology development etc. As the demand for
flawless service increases, the hotel staff and complementary
services must turn their attention to quality to a manufacturing-
based definition (standardization, licensing requirements etc.).
Lastly, because of the rise in business hotel prices, the value-
based definition has received a great attention in recent years,
and all parties (guests, local people and the hotel sector) are
involved in this controversy. Although the rendering of
services may involve some physical goods, it is commonly
people who render services to the customer. Indeed, the critical
time for service quality to be clearly understood is during the
one-to-one interactions that occur between the consumer and
the provider,
5) The so-called “service encounter”.
Customers commonly interact intimately with the service
production process. This inside knowledge presents them with
the opportunity to assess services critically, in particular the
quality of service. To illustrate how these different views can
apply to a single service, let’s consider the service provided in
a business hotel
“service quality is a measure of how well the service delivered
matches customers’ expectations. Parasuraman define “the
quality perceived in a service to be a function of the gap
between consumers’ expectations of the service and their
perception of the actual service delivered by the organization”
Quality management
Quality management is usually defined as a “set of coordinated
activities to direct and control an organization with regard to
quality”. It could be of reactive or proactive character. Reactive
approach means in fact complaints management and reflects
the desire to avoid problems with customers instead of
recognizing and dealing with their requirements. Quality is not
considered as a major source of service differentiation or
competitive advantage. The principal emphasis of reactive
approach is minimization of customer annoyance, rather than
realization of customer satisfaction. The efforts of quality
planning and control are focused on “hygiene factors”. These
are the factors that are taken for granted by the customer: for
example, time of departure of a plane or clean tables and
utensils at a restaurant. To ensure customer satisfaction, it is
not sufficient solely to comply with the hygiene factors.
Meeting these requirements does not ensure customer
satisfaction; however it helps to avid their dissatisfaction.
The proactive quality management
On the opposite the proactive quality management is always of
strategic character. Quality is used to differentiate the
organization’s service offering and lies at the heart of the
organization’s strategy to gain competitive advantage. Here,
usually, quality is one of the primary drivers of the business.
Corporate image is built around the quality of the offering; for
example, British Airways’ emphasis on customer care. The
accent, here, is on gaining customer satisfaction. The “quality”
phenomenon is the source for strengthening and differentiating
the offering and the organization from what is offered by the
competitors
Generally strategic quality management (SQM)
(SQM) is a systematic approach for setting and meeting quality
goals throughout the company , It can be defined as a
comprehensive and strategic framework linking profitability,
business objectives, and competitiveness to quality
improvement efforts with the aim of harnessing the human,
material and information resources organization-wide in
continuously improving products or services that will allow the
delivery of customer satisfaction The launch of a SQM
program requires a clear understanding of the service quality
vantage point (definition and vision), customers’ expectations,
perceived quality, measures of quality, and generic
determinants of quality.
The Significance of Quality in Modern Tourism
Development
Competition in the Tourism Market
We are all aware that quality has become one of the most, if
not the most, important factors in international competition for
business success and that continuous improvement in quality
makes good business sense. This is especially true of the broad
tourism sector, where an ever increasing array of “new”
tourism destinations has forced destination marketers and
operations managers to invest in the delivery of higher levels
of service quality as a competitive strategy aimed at
differentiating their product offering. Growing competition,
lack of willingness to provide a service, growing loss of
individuality by standardization of products, adverse price
performance ration etc. are good reasons for systematic quality
management in tourism are widely documented: growing
competition.
Given the increasingly competitive nature of this sector,
industry professionals must now concern themselves with not
only increasing market share, but also satisfying and
maintaining the existing customer base. Guests require
products where they are sure of getting top-quality, value-for-
money services. Consequently, “a large proportion of
organizational effort is now being directed at both getting and
keeping customers” (Christopher et al., 1991). However not all
the enterprises and tourism areas are aware of the importance
of quality factor in today’s tourism market? “It seems that
service inefficiency and poor standards are rife within the
international tourism sector. What is unfortunate for the
majority of tourism related organizations today, however, is
that the modern day customer has tasted quality and now
demands it as his or her right. No longer is the old axiom of
location good enough to ensure instant profit and business
success – tourism’s future it seems rests with quality, quality,
and quality.” Companies with perceived high quality “goods”
and “services” typically had higher market share, higher return
on investment and asset turnover than companies with
perceived low quality. In the long term, the most important
factor affecting business performance is the quality of “goods”
and “services” offered by the organization, relative to its
competitors. Service quality is considered a critical
determinant of competitiveness. Attention to service quality
can help an organization to differentiate itself from other
organizations and through it gain a lasting competitive
advantage. In some manufacturing industries service quality is
considered a more important order winner than product quality.
Superior service quality is a key to improved profitability, and
not the cost of doing business. Service quality affects the
repurchase intentions of both existing and potential customers.
The poor service will reduce the potential customer base.
Tourism operators have to serve an increasingly discerning
public, who are now more eager than ever to complain and
transfer their allegiances to perceived providers of quality
services. This, coupled with the increasingly hostile nature of
the present business environment, has forced many within the
tourism sector to invest in the delivery of higher levels of
service quality as a means of achieving competitive
differentiation ,The growing competition in tourism industry,
transfer of new technologies, specific and constantly changing
customers’ preferences are the main factors of the growing
interest in quality management programs. Price competition
seems to be no longer a successful diversification tool. In long
term it could even bring losses and destruct the company. The
concept of quality not only sounds intuitively desirable but also
has been empirically linked to advantages such as customer
satisfaction and repeat purchases, brand loyalty and larger
market shares. Unless customers perceive that they are
receiving a quality service that meets their expectations, they
will consider taking their custom elsewhere. Quality now
manifests itself as a “hygiene” factor for service organizations.
Hygiene is essential for health, but cannot of itself guarantee
health. Improving the quality of services has many aspects:
• Strategic –
The company must focus on quality itself as the tool for
competitiveness. The product’s relative advantage (i.e.
perceived as being superior) is recognized to be one of the key
factors that differentiates between success and failure. This is
in terms of being able to offer unique or superior benefits to the
customer, providing some benefits not previously available,
satisfying clearly identified customer needs, solving customer
problems with existing products or being first to the market so
that there is no direct competition;
• Marketing –
Products should comply with customers’ requirements.
Companies try to achieve their own constant clients because
the tough competition may lead to push them out of the market.
Strong position, trust and quality are the determinants of
gaining stable market share. A lack of understanding of
customers and also competitors has been linked to product
failure. Companies should concentrate on the up-front
activities (i.e. market research) for success;
• Economic
the company must bring profits which is possible by offering
the products strictly meeting customers’ requirements. (Notice
however that the process is effective only when the
competitiveness of the company is higher than others, when
clients respect and appreciate high quality and they are eager
to pay more for getting it.)
• Technological
Quick development of technologies implements better
adjustment to the market
• Social
clients dement high quality which in long term implements
work of employees; social environment insist on
environmentally clean products and services processes being in
accordance with sustainable development approach, moreover,
since the company uses local resources local people want to
participate in its profits – either directly or through the
company’s participation in any local development activities
• Law – products must comply to appropriate standards and
regulations specific to different sectors of economy,
• Information
Spreading so fast that companies are to take care of their image
through the constant improvement of their products quality.
The quality efforts of many firms were motivated by real
success stories of companies like Xerox, Motorola, Ford and
General Motors where the adoption of quality practices had
significant positive influence on the global performance of
these companies. In this context quality is considered the only
way to maintain a competitive advantage and a strategic
weapon. Many studies investigate the relationships between
 quality efforts and financial performance measures such as
profit margin, return on equity and net profit after tax.

How quality improves business

It indicates also that the setting and maintenance of quality
standards is an increasingly important activity for hospitality
firms and tourism areas. More and more often, guests and
customers are opting for those products and services that allow
them to be certain of receiving high quality and value for money.
Below find the main arguments for quality improvement in a
business organization:
• Improving quality generates higher profits.
Better services are directly reflected in the business success,
compensation costs are reduced and guest loyalty is promoted. If
buyers can detect higher quality of products and services
encounters, they will “reward” such sellers with greater volume.
If reimbursement is above marginal cost, this higher volume turns
directly into higher profits. Higher quality, in a sense, generates
its own reward.
• Quality management decreases costs.
The introduction of a quality management system does not come
free. But it is much more expensive to go on making the same
mistakes, having the same loses, manage all the same complaints,
dealing with some misunderstanding between employees
suffering from the badly organized workplace etc. Despite cutting
costs by preventing mistakes and lower costs of control, high
quality means lower costs thanks to more effective work, less
stuff needed because the work is efficient, consequently cheaper
services. Still it is worth understanding: quality efforts and
investments are by their nature long-term investments.
• High quality service brings competitive advantages.
The quality programme promotes the creativity of services,
making them more difficult to copy, thus improving the market
chances. In tourism guests look for an aid to orientation in the
wide variety of tourist offers and quality assurance is one of points
of orientation for the customers enabling them to make right
decisions. High quality is the way to better and stronger trade
mark which generates higher profit.
• Quality management leads to increased employees’ morale and
job satisfaction and therefore less fluctuation.
If employees are involved in the preparation and implementation
of the quality programme and they see the system to be more
profitable for themselves as well, they are more motivated,
satisfied and loyal. This can be gained through better
communication between management and employees. Proper
quality management reduces employee turnover and therefore
also reduces costs.
• As a result quality management encourages hospitality.
 All employees pull together in the same direction – guest
satisfaction – and the guests notice that. That’s why it is crucial
to employ staff truly devoted to their job and responsibilities.
• Quality management enhances company image.
Customers prefer companies with some kind of a Quality Label
as it generally means better customer service and ensures
reliability. Quality in fact is the only way to create the market
brand.
• Proper customer service is more effective than expensive
advertising.
Improving customer service is essential for tourism industry. It
is sometimes easier and cheaper to rely on customer’s
recommendations by satisfying their needs rather than putting a
lot of money in marketing, advertising and sales promotions. It
has been proven, that 9 out of 10 guests spend their holidays on
the recommendation of friends and relatives.
• Quality management improves financing possibilities.
The creditors tend to require financial schemes which are tied
with quality management plans. This also proves, that introducing
quality management systems leads to increasing companies’
value, creditability and reliability. Receiving financial help such
as loans or leasing becomes easier and sometimes less expensive.
• Quality management improves dealing with critical incidents.
Each guest has his specific expectations, needs and opinions. No
matter how tactful staff may be, the odd mistake or
misunderstanding is unavoidable. Such occurrences are described
as “critical incidents” (see chapter 18.3); these are defects of
varying degrees in a service chain which result in failure to satisfy
guest expectations and hence trigger dissatisfaction. Guests tend
to remember critical incidents and do not hesitate to talk about
them.
One of the most important developments in the tourism industry
is the growing attention for service quality from the customer’s
perspective. This is the consequence of the growing customer
dominance in the service process. Nowadays, customers are much
better informed about travelling and are increasingly experienced
travelers, which makes them less dependent on the proficiency of
the service provider, e.g. the travel agent. As the customer’s
dominance increases, he becomes more and more demanding.
Social Aspects of Quality Management in Tourism
Service is becoming the differentiator and the source of achieving
a competitive edge. At its heart must be the realization that service
is about people and the manner in which they are managed. Total
quality management is one such approach because “it is a
strategy, which is concerned with changing the fundamental
beliefs, values and culture of a company, harnessing the
enthusiasm and participation of everyone (...) towards an overall
ideal of right first time”. Fundamental to this strategy is the
human element of the service production and delivery process.
Longenecker and Scazzero (2000) present the following
description: “Restaurants make customers wait too long for food
that may be cold or poorly prepared. Airliners have long waiting
and departure lines for check-in and baggage pick-up. Hotel
rooms are not always properly cleaned or maintained according
to specified company standards. Long cycle times often exist for
hospital emergency room patients in need of urgent care.
Government agencies are frequently accused of being
unresponsive and sluggish in providing critical human services.
And, as the popularity of online shopping grows, orders can
contain the wrong items or the items are damaged in transit.” Life
seems to be horrible in such circumstances. On the contrary:
Better quality of life means better people commitment, better
quality of work, better results (products, services) and as a result
– better quality of life! Quality of services is a visible sign of the
everyday life quality in a given society.

the measures of quality

One of the measures of quality is job satisfaction. Obviously,
when the employees are highly motivated and content due to the
job they do, they work more efficiently and pay more attention to
the tasks they are responsible for. That is why quality strategies
are connected not only with external clients that means producing
goods or services of quality but also internal ones, that is creating
high quality products by involved and qualified stuff , Work
environment conditions affect work satisfaction and thus
customer perceived service quality. Services are usually more or
less abstract or immaterial, which makes them difficult to get
inspected and assessed before buying. Services do not have a
lifetime, they only exist under a short period and they cannot be
stored. They are produced, delivered, consumed and marketed
simultaneously. That is why services quality must be built in as
the service is developed. Quality is not engineered-in at the
manufacturing plant, then delivered intact to the customer. In
labour-intensive services quality occurs during service delivery ,
There is no customer satisfaction without satisfied employees.
That is a very basic social aspect of quality management.

Economic and Social Aspects of Quality

The Power of Loyalty

Marketing – acting alone – cannot create sustainable loyalty.
Customers remain loyal, not because of promotions and
marketing programmes, but because of the value they receive.
Value is driven by a full array of features, such as product quality,
service, sales support and availability. The sales force controls
customer acquisition, manufacturing is responsible for quality,
the service department manages direct interactions with the
customer, and so forth.
Marketing’s job is to ensure that the efforts of each department
are coordinated into effective delivery of a unique value
proposition, which will provide superior value and, thus, earn
customer loyalty. Marketing conceptualizes the value proposition
and envisions how to present it in terms that the customer will
understand, but bringing it to life requires the efforts of all the
other company functions.

Tourism Product Quality – a Complex Matter

Why quality in tourism seems to be such complex phenomenon?
Quality in tourism has many dimensions. As it was stated earlier
all products are accompanied by some aspect of service, and most
services are associated with some physical items, either the
service itself or the provision of the service. “(...) neither goods
nor services are marketed; what is marketed is a bundle of
benefits, often including both tangible and intangible aspects”
(Enis and Roering, 1981). A tourism package is the total sum of
goods, services and interactions which a tourist receives at
different points in time, and maintains as perceived memories of
his/ her tourism experience. It can be the holiday experience –
comprising both tangible and intangible services – that constitutes
the core component of the tourism product. Tourist satisfaction
can be achieved only if a tourism firm’s core offering is able to
meet the expectations of the customer; peripheral offerings thus
essentially assist the firm in providing added attractions to the
core service. This differentiation of a core and peripheral within
a range of services is critical for the effective management of
tourism firms and customer satisfaction. As a result, the concept
of service packaging proffers various applications in the effectual
management of tourism services. When we talk about quality in
tourism we should decide whether we discuss the problem of
service quality offered by the tourism enterprise or quality of the
destination area – which is much more complex.
Let’s start with a single company. It is necessary then to
concentrate on four main parts:
• service contact (employees, infrastructure),
• the project of service (defining the needs of guests in
comparison to goals of company),
• productivity of services (taking care of constant or improving
quality in conditions of rising demand),
• organization and culture of service.
Services are performed when the producer and consumer come
into contact. This inseparability lends a further complication in
that it inhibits mass production of the service. This situation is
exacerbated due to the perishability of services, for example a seat
in a restaurant or a bed in a hotel that is not used in one time period
cannot be accumulated for use at a future time. Aspects of these
features of services present specific problems for managers who
must accurately forecast demand to ensure effective capacity
utilization. The evaluation of quality systems of individual
tourism enterprises indicates that the lack of proper inputs
combined with the unfavourable features of the external
environment in which these systems operate obstruct the benefits
that these systems could otherwise produce (quality tourism
products). The resources used by big tourism companies for the
development of advanced quality systems are therefore lost. In
the short term, the existing quality systems of individual tourism
companies may increase their competitiveness. However, in the
long term, lack of the ability to satisfy the needs of their customers
may result in a gradual decrease in the sales of tourism products
offered by these companies. Increasing competition in the tourism
market impels individual tourism enterprises to focus on quality
improvement as a source of competitive advantage. Small tourism
enterprises typically lack adequate inputs and ability to manage
effectively internal and external relationships in order to develop
comprehensive quality systems. A majority of big tourism
enterprises have, however, developed modern quality systems
based on the concept of TQM . Despite the fact that their quality
management processes are in most cases advanced,
comprehensive and consistent, they also face difficulties with
achieving total satisfaction of tourists. These problems result
from inadequate inputs and inability to secure quality
relationships with the environment in which the systems operate,
which is associated with the nature of the tourism product.
Defining the quality and its determinants in tourism industry
seems to be even more complicated then in any other services
area. The tourism industry is composed of networks of
independent
tourism service encounter
but inter-related service providers, such as airlines, hotels and
tour operators, functioning within a range of service industries.
From a services management perspective, these tourism networks
can be described as packages of experiences consisting of both
tangible and intangible elements. Thus, the pre-sale tourists'
expectations relate mainly to the quality of the destination area
rather than the quality of services provied by tour operators and
travel agents that operate within a TGA.
Locating the tourism quality system within the TDA enables more
accurate identification of the benefits that the host area is in a
position to offer to various market segments. Required quality
improvement areas in terms of satisfying total customer
expectations can also be better recognized owing to the fact that
the majority of components of the total tourism product are
consumed at a TDA. It is therefore easier to close the tourism
quality perception gap .
tourism quality perception gap
Augustyn (1998) defines the “tourism quality perception gap”
which relates to the discrepancy between the views of the tourists
and those of the tourism organizations in respect to the quality of
the tourism product. While tourists perceive quality as
satisfaction with the complete tourism experience from the time
they leave home to the time they return , the popular tourism
organization’s approach to quality in tourism limits tourists’
satisfaction to those components of the tourism product that are
provided by the organization. For example, a tour operating
company offers a quality package composed of a seat in an
airplane, a hotel room and meals in a restaurant, and is interested
only in the quality of those components, as well as the quality of
their own services. It should, however, be noted that other factors,
such as the quality of destination acilities, infrastructure, public
transport, hospitality also influence tourist satisfaction. In most
cases, however, these factors are not taken into consideration by
individual tourism companies while searching for information
related to customers’ expectations and levels of satisfaction.
Therefore, even if the packages offered by the tour operators are
of top quality, the other factors may spoil the tourist’s overall
experience. A number of quality dimensions such as accessibility
of services, service orientation, freedom of choice, security and
aesthetics, as well as specific tourist activities such as shopping
activities or the use of public transportation seem to be perceived
and evaluated very critically
Tourism produt
The defining characteristics of the tourism product are such that
they present specific issues for practicing managers:
Supply-related:
• the multisectoral and complex nature of the product which
represents a mixture of various elements (for example, the
destination with its facilities, attractions and accessibility)
• the rigidity of the main elements of the offer that limit speedy
responses to changing consumer tastes
• the highly fragmented supply – many businesses may
contribute to the overall experience
• the intangibility, inseparability and perishability of certain
aspects of the offer
• staff issues – tourism as “people industry”.
Demand-related:
• high elasticity
• seasonality
• changing needs, attitudes and preferences of customers
• little brand loyalty
• heterogeneous customer groupings.
In order to enhance customer satisfaction, an individual tourism
organization should adopt the same understanding of quality as
its customers. Consequently, the information needed for
identification of quality improvement areas should relate to all
components of the total tourism product and not only to those
offered by the tourism company. A majority of the companies do
not have, however, sufficient resources to develop and monitor
complex information systems. Since the information about
customer expectations constitutes an important part of the inputs
to a quality system, shortcomings within this area give rise to
failures of quality systems developed by individual tourism
organizations.
Tourists’ expectations of specific levels of service quality in
tourism partly stem from their own culture and prior socialisation,
which can predispose them to interpret factors influencing
tourism destination choice and destination experience from a
distinctive perspective . Different segments of tourists may have
both different expectations and attitudes regarding tourism
services and service quality. In addition, they may also perceive
tourism experiences and associated service quality differently,
thus requiring specific attention with respect to the differential
development and management of tourism products/services.
Managers want to have control over the factors that influence
customers’ expectations, but some of those factors are
uncontrollable. That is, e.g. the case for the factor “perceived
service alternatives from competitors”. The factors that influence
customers’ expectations of service are often influenced by social
trends. For example the new service alternatives (i.e. the Internet)
influence the service expected from the traditional travel agent.
The necessary changes in this service must go far beyond the
usual job of the travel agent. Managers in a tourism organisation
are in a position to react to these trends in an appropriate manner,
depending on how they are viewed – as a threat or as an
opportunity. If a manager objectively examines trends, then, he/
she is better prepared as a professional to take a leadership role in
the tourism sector, instead of being caught in a reactive or
defensive position. Most tourism services are heavily dependent
on word-of-mouth recommendation. Publicity by WOM can have
– both positive and negative – serious consequences at the macro
level of the industry. Indeed, the design of the tour package will
not only influence customers’ tourism experience, but will also
affect the image of the destination and, ultimately, the tourism
industry as a whole. Consequently, tour operators who manage
mass tourism assume an important role in maintaining the image
and well being of the destination they serve. Quality is a global,
but not easily definable, concept that applies to tourist
destinations, regions or nations, as well as individual private
enterprises. Most approaches have focused on individual
providers of tourism services, with the aim of helping them
understand better the needs of modern tourists, and to develop
economically feasible products and processes . But a destination
area’s reputation for hospitality, or “(...) the manner in which
visitors are received, and the quality of service provided, forms a
major component of a destination’s tourist image” . In order to
attract and retain the customer, the tourism business must concern
itself with attaining and maintaining a constant level of service
quality in terms of service production and delivery. It is, however,
important to bear in mind that quality relates to customers’
perceptions, not the perceptions of those who provide the service.
The most complex definition of the tourism product quality
should include these observings. Such definition was formed by
World Tourism Organization
 Quality in tourism implies to satisfy all the legitimate service
requirements and expectations of the client at an acceptable price
whereby always conforming to the underlying quality
determinants such as safety and security, hygiene, accessibility,
and harmony with the human and natural environment .
WTO therefore defines quality as the central objective of tourism
development and identifies it with the quality of tourism
experience for both who visit and buy tourism service and those
who receive visitors and provide such services. Quality thus
provides a basis for sustainable tourism. It is again worth to notice
that tourism quality in such a context cannot be enhanced by an
individual enterprise – it needs the involvement of tourism
organizations or consortiums and should be developed at national
and local levels.

. Quality: the financial effects

The Effect on Income. Income may consist of sales of an
industrial company, taxes collected by a government body,
appropriations received by a government agency, tuitions
received by a school, and donations received by a charity.
Whatever the source, the amount of the income relates in varying
degrees to the features of the product produced by the recipient.
In many markets, products with superior features are able to
secure superior income, whether through higher share of market
or through premium prices. Products that are not competitive in
features often must be sold at below-market prices. Product
deficiencies also can have an effect on income. The customer who
encounters a deficiency may take action of a cost-related nature:
file a complaint, return the product, make a claim, or file a
lawsuit. The customer also may elect instead (or in addition) to
stop buying from the guilty producer, as well as to publicize the
deficiency and its source. Such actions by multiple customers can
do serious damage to a producer’s income. The Effect on Costs.
The cost of poor quality consists of all costs that would disappear
if there were no deficiencies—no errors, no rework, no field
failures, and so on. This cost of poor quality is shockingly high.
In the early 1980s, it was estimated that within the U.S.
manufacturing industries, about a third of the work done consisted
of redoing what had already been done. Since then, estimates
from a sample of service industries suggest that a similar situation
prevails in service industries generally. Deficiencies that occur
prior to sale obviously add to producers’ costs. Deficiencies that
occur after sale add to customers’ costs as well as to producers’
costs. In addition, they reduce producers’ repeat sales.
. How to manage for quality: the Juran trilogy
To attain quality, it is well to begin by establishing the “vision”
for the organization, along with policies and goals. Conversion of
goals into results (making quality happen) is then done through
managerial processes—sequences of activities that produce the
intended results. Managing for quality makes extensive use of
three such managerial processes:
1- Quality planning
2- Quality control
3- Quality improvement
These processes are now known as the “Juran trilogy.”
Juran Triology
The three universal processes of managing for quality
ISO and quality measurement

ISO and quality measurement

ISO and quality measurement

TQM programs include management strategies such as ISO
9000 certification, a set of five quality management standards
developed by the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO).
First: what is meant by ISO?
The word ISO is an abbreviation for the term International
Standards Organization, and it expresses the name "International
Standards Organization".

Second: When did this term appear?

This term appeared in 1987 by the International Organization
for Standardization (ISO), and international quality standards
have been approved by 35 countries, including many European
countries, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, China, India, South
Africa, and the United States of America.

Third: What is meant by the ISO 9000 standard?

 It is a certificate or specification granted by the International
Organization for Standardization to companies (productive or
service) that have a set of standards and requirements related to a
certain level of quality required by the international organization.
Therefore, companies that adhere to ISO 9000 specifications can
sell their products to other countries that adhere to the ISO 9000
system without examining the product.

Fourth: What is meant by ISO 9001?

ISO 9001 is one of the certificates of the International
Organization for Standardization. This international certificate
includes what should be the quality system in companies whose
work begins from the stage of engineering design of the product,
service after sale, renewal and improvement of the product.
Fifth: What is meant by ISO 9002?
This certificate includes what should be the quality system in
companies whose activity is limited to producing, improving,
developing and selling goods only, without including the stages
of engineering design and after-sales service.

Sixth: What is meant by ISO 9003?

This certificate includes the standards of the quality system in
the field of final examination of the produced commodity and its
quality testing.
Seventh: What is meant by ISO 9004?
 This certificate includes guiding instructions that must be
followed by companies to obtain one of the ISO 90001, 9002
and 9003 certificates.
What is meant by ISO 14000?
It is a certificate or specification for environmental protection
and care, and it includes several standards that companies must
adopt in order to protect the environment.

Quality System - ISO 9000:

ISO 9000 is a general term for a series of standards developed
by the International Standardization Organization (ISO) to
determine the quality systems that should be applied to the
industrial and service sectors. The word ISO is derived from a
Greek word meaning equality, and the number 9000 is the version
number under which the standard was issued. Or the
specification, since its issuance in 1987, the ISO 9000
specification has received great attention that an international
standard has not received before.

The requirements of ISO 9000 quality systems are divided

into three levels:
A- ISO 9001 system:
It is concerned with institutions that carry out design,
development, production and services.
B- ISO 9002 system:
 It is concerned with institutions that produce and services,
and since schools do not
You design curricula, as they are not subject to the ISO 9002
standard system.

C- ISO 9003 system:

It is concerned with small workshops, as they do not design
their products and carry out the assembly process.
[This specification has been adopted by more than 130
countries]
** The importance of quality:
1- Adjusting and developing the administrative system in the
educational institution.
2- Raising the level of students in all fields.
3- Controlling the complaints of students and their parents,
minimizing them, and developing solutions.
4- Increasing educational efficiency and raising the level of
performance of the institution's employees.
5- Fulfilling the requirements of students, their parents, and the
community, and reaching their satisfaction in accordance with
the general system of the educational institution.
6- Enabling the educational institution to analyze problems
using scientific methods.
7- Raising the level of students and parents towards the
educational institution by highlighting the commitment to the
quality system.

8- Interdependence and integration between all those in charge

of teaching and administrators in the institution and working
through the team and in team spirit.
9- The application of the quality system gives the educational
institution the local respect, appreciation and recognition.
Achieving a culture of quality in education and knowledge can
never be compared with the principle of quality in industrial,
commercial or agricultural production, because the foundations
that control measurements and specifications for each are very
different from each other. Education and knowledge are two
values and pillars that depend mainly on the mind and thought,
and therefore they are related to the intellectual and spiritual side
of man more than their connection to the material side.
The concept of quality in education has two interrelated
meanings, one realistic and the other sensory
The quality of education in its realistic sense means the
educational institution's commitment to achieving recognized real
indicators and standards such as the rates of the cost of university
education - while the concrete meaning of the quality of education
is based on the feelings and feelings of the recipients of the
educational service such as students and their parents.
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