Current Key Issues In Service Delivery In The Tourism And Hospitality Industry

Compared to other sectors of economy, developing trends in tourism indicate that it is one of the fastest growing industries and is a significant source of labor market that employs millions of people over the globe. As hotels and restaurants are highly diversified in various types of businesses, it allows large companies to work cooperatively with these subsectors and employ more than hundred thousands of workforces each. Moreover, it is in the vital interest of specially developing countries to develop this industry, since service sector has important impact on the Gross Domestic Product of country. However there are many factors that challenge performance of service sector in terms of quality practices, security issue, and employment.

As firms expand their operations and price level become alike, service quality and the management of industry by players become key factors that differentiate these competing companies. So, service quality should be managed in a way that ensures satisfaction of customer and leads to comparative advantage of hotels in terms of service. However, considering the fact that service quality is based on individual costumer’s perceptions, evaluations of services would be viewed from the perspective of the customer. By trying to offer best of the service where expectations of individuals met, high service performance will attract more customers to purchase the service in the industry.

Another key issue in the sector is lack of qualified labor which also contributes to the quality of services. Since many developing countries that want to accommodate their economy with fair share of tourism industry are new in this process, have less qualified indirect occupations rather than hotel and restaurant employees which are considered direct occupations. Therefore, countries should give special attention to the occupations such as drivers, tourist guides, shops for gifts etc. This will enable more local people to generate their livings hence contribute to the economy of country.

Growing safety issues are also main forces that undermine tourism industry. Safety and security are indicators of service quality provided to customers. Thus, success of tourism industry can be measured by its ability to assure safe environment for visitors. Especially after September 9/11 attack and recently terrorist acts in Europe, the numbers of visitors is expected to sharply decline. Now, it is each government’s term to identify what are the concerns of travelers regarding safety issues and address those potential distributions for better developed economy.

All in all, tourism is a globally growing and highly competitive industry that has vital effect on the economy of countries. As service quality is vulnerable to perceptions of customers, lack of safety and overall quality of service is important aspects of their competitive performance in the market. Thus, lack of these factors can negatively affect.

 
 
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