Projects / Programmes
Total quality program in tourism
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.02.02 |
Social sciences |
Economics |
Business sciences |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S189 |
Social sciences |
Organizational science |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.02 |
Social Sciences |
Economics and Business |
quality in tourism, technical quality, functional quality, image quality, categorisation, quality labels, USALI
Researchers (9)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The programme for comprehensive quality promotion is considered as the main strategic quality tourism development document in Slovenia. Such document is intended to enhance the quality of tourism products and services in terms of tourism service providers, destinations and also at national level.
Every tourist destination or organization, which is active on the market, is looking for certain advantages over competitors; or in other words, it is looking for ways to be seen differently by consumers than other tourist service providers. Finding a long-term advantage, which is not easy to imitate, is a real challenge. What should tourist destinations or organizations do to create a competitive advantage?
Tourist destinations or organizations can compete on the market with price or non-price sources, or in terms of resources a selected business strategy. We are talking of two generic business strategies:
• cost-effective strategy (the source of competitive advantage is lower price);
• differentiation strategy (the source of competitive advantage is the non-price and all kinds of quality).
If we do not compete with lower price, we can compete only with different types of quality. Quality in tourism can basically be divided into:
• quality of offer (primary and secondary) or technical quality,
• quality of services or functional quality,
• quality of provider (reputation of the organization and/or destination) or prestigious quality.
It can be summarised that quality, in all its manifestations, is the only long-term successful (developmental and/or business) strategy.
Why a public promotion of tourism quality is needed? There are numerous reasons. The biggest reason is the recognized quality in the eyes of target consumers. Slovenian tourist destinations and organizations are too small to be able to achieve the desired recognisability on target markets. If we are not recognised as high-quality destination or organization, the acceptability for the consumer reduces; thus, providers achieve lower average prices for services, lower incomes, and have fewer resources for promotions and development.
In the hotel industry, quality is expressed by category (number of stars) and/or membership in hotel chains; in food catering by being classified in gastronomic guides such as Michelin or Gault Millau; in the primary tourist offer (natural resources, cultural heritage) by being listed on the UNESCO lists, or at least among the national parks or important national cultural monuments. Such quality is known to international tourists who know what to expect. The more of these elements are present in a tourist destination, the greater is the demand and achieved average price of the service. In Slovenia, these internationally recognized quality elements do mainly not exist and will probably not be present for some time. Therefore, it is even more necessary to establish a national quality initiative and work towards the internationalization of Slovenian tourism.
The main Slovenian tourism development documents point out that the only solution for Slovenian tourism is the rise of quality as this is the only way to achieve higher prices.
So, why does Slovenia need national promotion of tourism quality? The country should regulate the area (norms e.g. categorization), set the standards for common brands, and finally, reward high-quality providers; thus, raise awareness about the importance and methods of tourism quality assurance. As repeatedly mentioned, Slovenia, as a tourist destination, is too small and suppliers are too fragmented to be able to act on international tourist markets individually, successfully and long-term. In this developmental phase of the Slovenian tourism, there is a necessity of domestic brands or state guarantees for quality in certain segments (in tourism products and services). Where it is possible, a gradual internationalization is needed, e.g. transition from the national system of hotel classification to the i
Significance for science
Glavni znanstveni prispevek je razviden iz tabele točke 16, kjer je jasno razvidno, da bo celoten projekt rezultiral okvirno v objavi 5 znanstvenih monografij, 5 znanstvenih člankih, 7 sestavkov v znanstveni monografiji in nekaj manjših prispevkov (konference).
Bolj kot to, je pomembno, da bodo ti izsledki/rezultati aplikativni za slovensko turistično gospodarstvo, saj bo države dobila jasne usmeritve, kako na sistemski način spodbujati kakovost v turizmu.
Ta področja bodo raziskana prvič na naveden način in znanstvena dela bodo zelo uporabna za vse študente in raziskovalce v turizmu. Raziskovalni projekt vsebuje tudi rešitve za boljšo implementacijo tehnologij za dvig kakovosti in dvig inovativnosti v turističnem okolju.
Strokovni prispevek se izkazuje iz pomena za gospodarstvo.
Significance for the country
Predlog raziskovalnega projekta popolnoma ustreza težiščem, ciljem in poudarkom iz tega razpisa. To je razvidno iz glavnega cilja predloga raziskovalnega projekta, ki je oblikovanje strateškega dokumenta za celovito spodbujanje kakovosti v turizmu. V predlogu raziskovalnega projekta predlagamo model, ki bo skrbel za povečanje kakovosti turističnih proizvodov in storitev na ravni turističnih ponudnikov, destinacij in na državni ravni (tako kot je bilo zahtevano v pojasnilih razpisa). Program bo razdelal celovit sistem razvoja kakovosti na vseh ravneh in področjih in ocenil morebitno uvedbo sistema certificiranja kakovosti na državni ravni.
Menimo, da tu ni potrebno bolj obsežno elaborirati pomen kakovosti v turizmu, saj so člani projektne skupine pionirji uvajanja teh konceptov v Sloveniji: dr. Ivankovič za področje USALI, dr. Križaj za področje inovativnosti, mag. Juvan za področje profiliranja/segmentiranja turistov in dr. Uran Maravićeva za področje kakovosti.
Rezultati projekta bodo imeli velik vpliv na povečanje konkurenčnosti Slovenije, večjo socialno kohezivnost ter trajnostni razvoj. Kakovost kot koncept pomeni delovanje turističnih organizacij in destinacij v smeri dolgoročnega, trajnostnega razvoja. Kot smo so že navedli, turistične destinacije in organizacije lahko konkurirajo z nižanjem cen na mednarodnem trgu ali z dvigovanjem kakovosti v očeh ciljnega porabnika.
Povedali smo, da je ključni cilj projekta strateški dokument za celovito spodbujanje kakovosti. Kakovost in inovativnost sta edini možni strateški usmeritvi, če želimo (p)ostati konkurenčni kot turistična destinacija. Na tem področju mora delovati država (vlada, ministrstva) kot tudi turistične organizacije.
Rezultati projekta bodo popolnoma uporabni kot podlaga za sprejemanje strateških odločitev, odločitev o oblikovanju politik ali odločitev o strateškem odločanju javnih organov in prenos znanja v prakso. To je razvidno iz dejstva, da bo sam dokument oblikovan na način, da ustreza formi in vsebini dokumentov, ki jih je Direktorat za turizem imel do sedaj in ki ustreza doktrini pisanja strateških dokumentov v Sloveniji, ki jo je pomagala razviti tudi UP FTŠ Turistica. Dokument bo vseboval temeljito analizo stanja na posameznih delovnih svežnjih, primere dobrih praks, predlog rešitev in kjer je potrebno tudi analizo mnenj deležnikov (podrobneje je opisano v točki 15).
Naš predlog raziskovalnega projekta je neprecenljiv za slovensko turistično gospodarstvo, ker bo ponudil najboljše rešitve in jasne strateške smernice za dvig konkurenčnosti slovenskega turizma in njegov trajnostnejši razvoj na področjih:
• nadaljnje implementacije vseh vrst kakovosti v turistične destinacije in organizacije,
• kontinuiranega spremljanja povpraševanja turistov na vseh nivojih,
• transparentnih in mednarodno primerljivih informacijah o poslovanju turističnih organizacij,
• nadaljnje implementacije konceptov inovativnosti.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2015,
2016,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2015,
2016,
final report
