The awareness and importance of Tourism Quality Labels and Programs among foreign Tour Operators
Karhu, Angelika (2012)
HAAGA-HELIA ammattikorkeakoulu
2012
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2012120317843
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2012120317843
Tiivistelmä
Quality development is a vital tool in the business activities of companies in the tourism sector and it has grown to be an important advantage to compete in the market and to gain recognition. The subject of awareness and importance of different quality labels and programs that are in place in Finland has not been previously researched from the perspective of foreign tour operators. This Bachelor’s Thesis is a research work commissioned by the Finnish Tourist Board aimed at profiting the Cooperation group of Finnish Quality Labels.
The objective of this research is to discover how well quality labels and programs are recognised and known among foreign tour operators, do they affect tour operators’ decision making when choosing and forming partnerships and are they held in high regard. Another important focus point of the research is to examine the significance of the European Commission’s iniative for a common European Tourism Quality label and what would be the benefits and disadvantages for companies of such quality practice. In the theoretical framework for the study, the thesis takes a close look into quality as companies’ success factor, quality management, quality development and the important tourism quality labels and programs that are currently in use in Finland.
Qualitative research method was chosen in order to objectively map out the personal views and experiences of people rather than trying to create a common conception of the subject. The research also follows loosely the case study approach, based mainly on structured in-depth interviews collected during October and November 2012 that were designed to gather relevant and industry specific information from the intervieweed tour operator representatives. The selected companies had existing cooperation with the Finnish Tourist Board and thus were expected to be familiar with the concept of tourism quality labels and programs. The results revealed that quality continues to be one of the most important success factors for tourism organisations especially inside their operations and management. However the importance of quality labels and programs presented in this study seemed to be rather limited within the borders of Finland because at the moment foreign tour operators emphasize other elements of quality in their decision making.
The objective of this research is to discover how well quality labels and programs are recognised and known among foreign tour operators, do they affect tour operators’ decision making when choosing and forming partnerships and are they held in high regard. Another important focus point of the research is to examine the significance of the European Commission’s iniative for a common European Tourism Quality label and what would be the benefits and disadvantages for companies of such quality practice. In the theoretical framework for the study, the thesis takes a close look into quality as companies’ success factor, quality management, quality development and the important tourism quality labels and programs that are currently in use in Finland.
Qualitative research method was chosen in order to objectively map out the personal views and experiences of people rather than trying to create a common conception of the subject. The research also follows loosely the case study approach, based mainly on structured in-depth interviews collected during October and November 2012 that were designed to gather relevant and industry specific information from the intervieweed tour operator representatives. The selected companies had existing cooperation with the Finnish Tourist Board and thus were expected to be familiar with the concept of tourism quality labels and programs. The results revealed that quality continues to be one of the most important success factors for tourism organisations especially inside their operations and management. However the importance of quality labels and programs presented in this study seemed to be rather limited within the borders of Finland because at the moment foreign tour operators emphasize other elements of quality in their decision making.