The Importance Of Total Quality Management In Tourism

1001 Words5 Pages
1.1 An Overview

The globalization of market economy has forced corporations in tourism sector to focus on maintaining a sustainable competitive edge, which is directly related to maintaining quality. Total Quality Management (TQM) is considered an effective model of such a vision. The importance of total quality management in the tourist industry has risen to a fabulous level because of the growth of competitiveness of new tourist destinations and the change in preferences of tourists ' behavior.

The application of existing ideas on quality improvement is an important issue to tourist enterprises (Cesar, 1996). TQM is an approach for improving competitiveness, benchmarking, effectiveness, efficiency, staff training, and development of the whole organization, which are all vital for its survival and competitiveness in a changeable business environment (Oakland 1995). TQM is the coordination of efforts directed at improving customer satisfaction, strengthening supplier partnerships, increasing employee participation, and facilitating an organizational atmosphere of continuous quality improvement (Pride, Hughes, and Kapoor 2009).

Deming’s pioneering view of TQM: "Do it right the first time to eliminate cost rework, Listen to, and learn from, customers and employees; Make continuous improvement an everyday matter, Build teamwork, trust and mutual respect." (Marc, Herman, Karlien & Robert, 2006).

TQM includes not only improvement of products and services, but also the

More about The Importance Of Total Quality Management In Tourism