Service Quality in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Essay example -

There are so many research studies that have been conducted relating to service quality and customer satisfaction as this topic has been the centre of attraction in the service industries. Both these words play an important role in determining the competitiveness and the survival of an organisation in the tourism or the hospitality industry. The following chapter commences with a brief look at the tourism industry, followed by the definition and explanation of service quality. This chapter also tries to provide the link between customer perceptions, expectations and satisfaction. Gaps evolving between the management of an organisation and the perceptions of the customers are evaluated in detail. The latter part of the chapter focuses on SERVQUAL which is used as a tool for measuring service quality. Five basic dimensions of service quality have been evaluated in detail from the perspective of different authors which is followed by the criticism of SERVQUAL. The determinants of servic e quality have been identified in terms of airline industry and the relation between delivery of service quality and customer satisfaction has been highlighted at the end. Furthermore, this paper will try to demonstrate how an airline could manage its service quality by using the ‘SERVQUAL’ as a diagnostic tool to measure the expectations of number of different passengers. The Tourism Industry Tourism has become a vital tool for major revenue in many countries and regarded as an important catalyst in improving the global economy. Air travel has made the world smaller and accessible in many ways. Many state of the art airlines and airports across the world have catered to the ever growing demands of the customers who wish to travel by air. Those who... ....59-74. Supernanent, C. and Churchill, N. G., (1982) An investigation into the determinants of customer satisfaction. Journal of marketing research, 19 (4), p.491-504. Surveymonkey (2012) Introduction. [online] Available at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/ [Accessed: 24th February 2012]. Veal,A.J. 2006. Research methods for Leisure and Tourism: A practical guide. Third edition. Pearson Publication, London. Walle, A. (1997) Quantitative versus Qualitative Tourism Research. Annals of Tourism Research, 24 (3), p.524-536. Wong, K. and Musa, G. (2011) Branding satisfaction in the airline industry: A comparative study of Malaysia Airlines and Air Asia. African Journal of Business Management, 5 (8), p.3410-3423. 123helpme (2011) Components of customer services. [online] Available at: https://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=148474 [Accessed: 12th february 2012].