Tourism Product Marketing

Discuss the main issues of Service Quality Management in Tourism Marketing with Reference to Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry's (1985) "SERVQUAL Model"

Introduction

It is well known nowadays, that markets and businesses operate very differently than in past eras. During the last two decades, technology has undergone an explosive growth. Deregulation of markets has made competition become more intense and consumers more demanding.

Additionally, the major importance of the manufacturing industries that existed in past eras has been decreased significantly and is has been replaced by the services sector. Indeed, according to Ingram and Daskalakis (1999:24), 'the dominance of manufacturing industries has waned...and has been replaced by a buoyant services sector in which the hospitality industry has become one of the world's largest industries with an international identity'.

Furthermore, Akan (1995:39) refers to the importance of the services sector in the global economy stating that 'the economic share of services...accounts for more than half the sum of all GNPs worldwide' , while according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, 'tourism industry constitutes 11 per cent of global GDP...and.... by 2010, the tourism economy contribution is estimated to grow to 12 per cent of global GDP, and will support 250 million jobs, 9 per cent of total employment (stated in Rita, 2000:434).

Therefore, the hospitality/tourism sector constitutes a very important service sector that can contribute to the auxesis of the economic and social welfare. Furthermore, many tourism academics and practitioners predict that the tourism and hospitality industry is set to continue beyond the millennium.

Generally, some of the elements that best depict the current era in terms of the hospitality and tourism sector are the following:

* Dominance of the services sector over the manufacturing sector

* Global recognition of the significance of the tourism sector (Akan, 1995; Rita, 2000)

* Increase of competition in tourism due to the increase of globalisation, technology and communications development, change of consumers' needs (they are more demanding and more price/value sensitive, they tend to search for quality (Parasuraman et al 1985; 1988), and their expectations are more (Marcjanna and Samuel, 1998)).

Consequently, the greater competitiveness has led the hospitality/tourism companies to find new means of differentiation by changing (in some cases) their corporate marketing philosophy. To be more specific, nowadays, companies are increasingly aware of the importance of quality as a source that can lead them to differentiate successfully and obtain a competitive advantage in the antagonistic marketplace (Ingram and Daskalakis, 1999; Mei et al, 1999; Akan, 1995; Asubonteg et al, 1996, Parasuraman et al, 1985; 1988; 1994; Gabbie and O'Neill, 1996).

Hence, the importance of quality as one of the key success factors for the hospitality/tourism is obvious. If service quality becomes the cornerstone of the marketing planning and strategy, then it will be much easier for a specific service (and therefore, hospitality) company to become more competitive and enjoy high ROI rates, higher market shares in the market place and increased profitability (Buttle, 1996).

For this reason, marketers and managers need to know what quality service means for their customers. To be more specific, they must be aware of how quality service is perceived from the consumer's point of view. Only then they will be able to adapt their resources appropriately in order to offer services of unique high quality, and 'keep' their customers, making them loyal .

One of the most common used measures of service quality is the SERVQUAL. A model that was developed by Parasuraman et al (1985; 1988), and its theoretical foundation is based on the performance-to-expectations gaps on attributes that consumers use to evaluate the quality of the service.

In the following sections of this essay, we will try to analyse the dimensions of this model using cases from the hospitality and tourism industry.

SERVQUAL Model

Before we analyse the SERVQUAL model, we must refer to the definition of quality based on the services and tourism marketing literature. According to a report of the British Standards (1997), quality is defined as 'the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy a stated or implied need' (stated in Lumsdon, 1997:199).

In terms of the services sector, Lewis and Booms (1983) state that 'service quality is a measure of how well the service level delivered matches customers expectations' (stated in Parasuraman et al, 1985:42). In the same vein, Parasuraman et al (1985:47), state that 'perceived service quality is the result of the consumer's comparison of expected service with perceived service' and the same authors defined perceived quality as 'a global judgement or attitude relating to the superiority of the service' (1988:16).

Generally, much has been published about quality in the hospitality industry and there is a general acceptance that quality embodies tangible and intangible elements, and it is related to confirmation or disconfirmation of consumers' expectations.

As stated earlier, marketers and managers must be aware of the quality of the service they offer, measuring their customers' perceptions and expectations across, different quality dimensions. One of the most popular instruments being used more than a decade is tourism marketing is the SERVQUAL model developed by Parasuraman et al (1985; 1988). As we can see in the Figure 1, this model considers the service quality from the viewpoints of both service provider and customer and enables perceptual gaps to be identified.

FIGURE 1: Service Quality Model (Parasuraman et al (1985:42)

CONSUMER

GAP 5

MARKETER

GAP 4

GAP 3

GAP