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THE IMPORTANCE OF EXCELLENT SERVICE IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
A. WHAT IS SERVICE?
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Tourism is part of the service sector of the economy and services are part of our
everyday live.
In the tourism industry you have:
Products:
1. manufacture goods
e.g. beads, crafts, jewellery, food etc.
2. services to meet people’s needs e.g. book an airline ticket,
organising a passport, driving a taxi, carrying luggage, tour guide,
laundry service etc.
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The Tourism industry is a group of businesses provided services for tourists.
THE DIFFERENCE/CHARACTERISTICS BETWEEN TOURISM SERVICES AND
GOODS
TOURISM SERVICES
Customers cannot sample services before
purchasing them (intangible)
Unsold services cannot be put into storage
(perish-ability)
Produced and consumed at the same time
and cannot be separated form serviced
provider. (inseparability)
The customer is part of the service
Tourism service can be different each time
it is delivered or received (variability)
TOURISM GOODS
Customers can test and try out goods
before purchasing them.
Goods can be stored
Ownership of goods can be transferred
Customers are not part of the service.
Goods do not change
B. THE THREE MAIN COMPONENTS THAT ARE COMMON TO ALL SERVICE
INDUSTRIES
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What service or product?
How the service or product is delivered
Who is the provider of the service or product?
C. WHAT IS SERVICE DELIVERY?
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It refers to the manner in which customer needs are met.
Tourists have expectations about the transport, accommodation etc they’ll
experience while travelling
If these expectations are met or exceeded, it means the service delivery was of
good quality.
Service in the tourism industry implies that the work we do for others is intended to
make them feel welcome, special, treated, important
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The success of the tourism industry relies on the rendering of service in an
efficient and professional way.
D. WHO IS THE SERVICE PROVIDER?
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It is the person or business that supplies a particular service.
Examples of providers are airlines, guesthouses, tour operators, government etc
ACTIVITY:
1. How do the four characteristics of services apply to a meal at a hotel restaurant
and a holiday? Copy the table below into your book and fill it in:
TERM
A HOLIDAY
A MEAL AT A HOTEL
RESTAURANT
Intangibility
Perish-ability
Inseparability
Variability
2. Activity 1 in textbook on page 4.
WHY IS EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE IMPORTANT TO THE ECONOMY AND
COMMUNITY?
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Customer service is important because without customers there would not be a
business. Therefore everyone dealing with domestic and international tourists must
understand the importance of providing high standards of customer service.
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Direct service to tourists: airline flight attendants, receptionists and guides.
Indirect service to tourists: taxi drivers, retail shops staff and members of the local
community
A ECONOMIC GROWTH
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Economic growth:
is the measure of the size and value of all the goods and
services produced during a specified time period.
It is an increase in a country’s
per capita output or gross domestic product (GDP)
ECONOMIC BENEFTIS:
1. Income generation
a. Large foreign exchange earner. More than 6 million foreign tourists visit South
Africa every year – contribute R20 billion to the country’s economy
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b. At international level the money that tourists spend in South Africa makes a
considerable contribution to BOP (Balance of Payment)
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The money earned from incoming tourists is considered to be an export because
it earns foreign exchange, bringing income into the economy.
Money that South African nationals spend on holidays overseas is considered an
import, because the products and services are paid for in foreign currency, taking
money out of the South African economy.
c. Domestic tourism contribute more than R47 billion to SA economy. Advantage: it
supports business ventures and business jobs all year round.
d. Multiplier effect: is an economic theory that suggests that money spent in a
particular area creates jobs, which in turn creates demand for other products and
services in the local economy
FOR EXAMPLE: A guesthouse will buy its goods and services locally, and its
employees will also spend a proportion of their wages on products and services
produced by local businesses. In this way the money from the tourists is respent in the local economy.
Do activity 4 no 1 on page 9 (textbook)
e. Leakage: occurs when money doesn’t stay in the area in which tourism occurs, but
leaves the local economy. This happens when goods and services are purchased
from outside the area, or when foreign owners take their profits out of the area.
FOR EXAMPLE: Large organisation such as a multinational hotel group buy
goods and services from outside the area as part of a national distribution
contract.
2. Employment creation:
f.
create many jobs for local South Africans.
g. Tourism creates many opportunities for entrepreneurs
(WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council) estimates that there are over 230 million
people now working in the tourism industry worldwide, representing 10 % of the total
global workforce.)
3. Improvement of the infrastructure:
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Tourism contributes to the establishment and improvement of tourism infrastructure
such as airport developments, road signage, visitor information centres,
telecommunications, conference centre developments and road and rail
improvements.
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ENCOURAGING GROWTH IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
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Tourism is the fastest-growing economic sector in the world and is considered to be
an important part of many countries’ economies. WHY?
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South Africa which is a developing country the tourism industry and often referred to
as South Africa’s “NEW GOLD”
This industry has had a highly positive effect on the economy.
For every seven tourists who journey to South Africa, one permanent job is created
In 2006, South Africa was the world’s fastest growing tourist destination.
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B COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND BENEFITS:
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Development means making life better and easier (improve standard of living) for
the community
Through development people get access to basic services e.g. sanitation, primary
health care, variety of goods and to more employment opportunities.
Communities need to be brought into mainstream economy
Education and training: To transfer skills to members of the community to take up
leadership position
Sustainable development to ensure employment
The project like FAIR TRADE IN TOURISM IN SOUTH AFRICA (FTTSA) promotes
the responsible development of tourism in local communities.
To ensure the local community is serious about the conservation of the
environment.
Opportunities for entrepreneurs – they contribute to development initiatives.
NDT (national Department of Tourism) and SAT (South African Tourism) also ensure
it uplifts the communities and job creation
Empowering communities to make decisions
Providing better community facilities and services – communities use improved
infrastructures to there benefit
Providing tourists with excellent service has an impact on the economic growth and
community development of a destination. (impact is effects that result from tourism
related activity, which may be either positive or negative.)
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QUALITY/EXCELLENT SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
Benefits of achieving and maintaining quality service:
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Pay undivided attention to your client. Listen to what the tourist is asking, do not
jump to your own conclusions – especially when dealing with different types of clients
(families with children will be impressed visit a restaurant with a play area and likely
to be of the opinion that the restaurant provides a good service or shopping centre or
theme parks that provide wheelchairs for the elderly or prams for the young will also
be seen as providing good service)
BUT a wheelchair-bound will consider your restaurant of poor quality if it does not
provide wheelchair access. Japanese tourists may rate your poorly for not having a
Japanese interpreter available.
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Be polite at all times. Treat all tourists with respect
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Excellent communication skills and service levels will result in superior customer
service..
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Offer to find out the information if you are unable to assist the tourist with her
questions immediately and provide the tourist with feedback as soon as you can –
don’t say “I don’t know” or a “We don’t offer that”
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Satisfied customers – tourists who experience a great holiday are likely to give
others a positive account of the destination (word of mouth)
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Repeat businesses – tourists will return to the destination for another holiday (You
cannot afford to ignore the needs and wishes of customers if you want to stay in
business, because dissatisfied customers can choose to take their business
elsewhere.
‘THE CUSTOMER COMES FIRST’ is not an empty slogan but a
fundamental business principle.
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Ensure customers loyalty and this will lead to an increased in sales - profitability
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An edge over other countries/business (competition)
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Greater job satisfaction for staff – more jobs will be created
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Improve public image
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More visitors generate revenue and require the improvement of the local
infrastructure (roads, airports, telecommunications etc.) as well as additional or
improved tourist facilities and services.
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To ensure that the customer’s/tourist needs have been sufficiently met:
EXAMPLES OF GOOD SERVICES:
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Cleanliness
Attractiveness
Efficiency
Politeness
Helpfulness
Personal hygiene
Honesty
Dress and appearance
Attitude
Whether there are enough facilities such as toilets and clean water
Whether it is easy to find your way around the park
Whether there is a map and whether is is accurate and concise
EXAMPLES OF POOR SERVICE:
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Being poorly trained
Unfriendliness
Inefficiency
Unwillingness to help
Lack of knowledge of the environment
Poor communication skills
Not maintaining eye contact
WITHOUT TOURISTS THERE IS NO TOURISM INDUSTRY!!
THE GOVERNMENT’s SUPPORT FOR EXCELLENT SERVICE:
1. In 2001 national Department of Tourism introduced a customer-service training
programme, SA Host
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The aim of SA Host:
 To develop a culture of customer service in South Africa by creating an
awareness of the individual’s role in developing superior customer service in
their place of work and their community
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Goal of SA Host:
 Improve service-delivery standards through training
 elevate national pride
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2. BATHO PELE White Paper is the national government’s regulation for transforming
service delivery in the public service. The belief is that good service delivery leads
to happy customers and employee satisfaction for a job well done.
Principles of BATHO PELE:
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Regularly contact with customers
set service standards
ensure high level of courtesy
provide more and better information about services
increase openness and transparency about services
remedy failures and mistakes
give the best possible value for money
BATHO PELE is a Sotho word which means ‘people first’.
3. The Domestic Tourism Growth Strategy: It was launched by NDT (former DEAT)
together with South African Tourism (SAT) in 2004. It promotes the following:
 The domestic tourism brand
 A set of experiences that relate to South African consumers specifically (revenue
increased contribute to the GDP and to uplift the community)
 Repeat visits by tourists
4. Other measures aimed at service excellence:
 Better training and better qualifications through the Tourism and Hospitality
Education and Training Authority (THETA)
 Star grading of accommodation rooms, conference venues and restaurants by
the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA)
 Awards for excellent in service provision:
The Welcome Awards:
 This premier tourism award was launched in 2006 by various government and
industry organisations – SA Tourism, DEAT, the Tourism Grading Council of
South Africa (TGCSA), Southern African Tourism Service Association (SATSA)
and the Association of South African Travel Agents (ASATA)
 The Welcome Award recognise businesses and individuals who are consistently
meeting and exceeding customers’ needs
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HOW CAN SERVICE DELIVERY BE IMPROVED IN SOUTH AFRICA?
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Service delivery in South Africa ranges from excellent to poor.
Many domestic tourists are not very critical of the levels of service.
It is important to measure the quality of service in relation to standards around the
world.
When international tourists visit a hotel they don’t compare it to the neighbouring
hotel, they compare it to other hotels they have visited in the world.
How can we improve service delivery?
A. PROVIDING TRAINING:
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To ensure that all staff are provided with training in customer service.
B. REGULAR ASSESSMENTS:
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Businesses in the tourism industry should regularly assess its achievements
To set targets (quality criteria) that are challenging and focused on those aspects
of the service that deliver most benefit to users of the service
A restaurant might set targets (quality criteria) to ensure that customers:
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Always receive menus immediately after being seated
Asked whether they are ready to order drinks within two to five minutes
after being seated
Asked whether they are ready to order their food as soon as drinks arrive
and that the food is ready within 10 minutes for starters and 15 to 20
minutes for main meals.
Therefore managers must monitor their workers and provide a questionnaire for
customers to fill in.
1. BENCHMARKING:
DEF: is a stand or point of reference against which things may be compared or
assessed.
o
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Assesses the organisation’s customer service performance against set
quality requirements or criteria and assesses whether these requirements are
achieved or not.
For example: a travel agency may set as a benchmark that all customers will
be attended to within ten minutes.
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2. QUALITY CRITERIA:
DEF: a list of requirements from which a tourism organisation selects criteria
against which a tourism organisation selects criteria against which its customer
service performance is assessed.
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3. ACCREDITATION AND EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS:
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Accreditation organisations exist to help ensure good service levels.
To become accredited by one of these organisations tourist businesses need
to meet certain requirements and standards.
Accreditation organisations:
1. TGSA (Tourism Grading Council of South Africa) – This grading system uses
internationally recognised star symbols to rate accommodation. It inspects
the standards in the hospitality and accommodation industry e.g. safety and
security, cleanliness and comfort, access, courtesy, pricing, services, food
and beverages)
2. THETA (Tourism, Hospitality and Education and Training Authority) – where
Grading Assessors are accredited.
3. IATA (International Air Transport Association) – Brings together abut 270
airlines around the world to ensure that people, freight and mail can move
around the global airline network.
4. ASATA (Association of South African Travel Agents) - Promotes professional
service with security for both members and their clients.
5. SATSA (South African Tourism Services Association) – Represents airlines,
coach operators, tour operators, vehicle hire companies ext.
6. ATTA (African Travel and Tourism Association) – Members can be hotels,
lodges, camps, tourist boards, airlines etc.
FLOW DIAGRAM TO SHOW HOW EXCELLENT SERVICE CAN IMPROVE THE
COUNTRY’S ECONOMY
TOURISM
TOURISTS SPEND THEIR MONEY ON SOUTH AFRICAN SERVICE AND GOODS
LOCAL PEOPLE WORK TO PROVIDE TRANSPORT, FOOD AND BEVERAGES,
ACCOMMODATION, ENTERTAINMENT AND LOCAL GOODS
LOCAL WORKERS ARE PAID WAGES AND SALARIES OR MAKE THEIR OWN
PROFIT
LOCAL WORKERS SPEND THEIR WAGES AND SALARIES
THE WHOLE COMMUNITY BENEFITS
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MEASURING CUSTOMER SERVICE
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Most tourism organisations use some form of feedback method to find out if their
customers are satisfied or dissatisfied with the standard of customer service they
receive.
Positive feedback can be very motivating for staff: It is good to know that your
customers think that you are doing a good job.
INFORMAL FEEDBACK:
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This is often spontaneous, making it a valuable source of information.
Informal feedback can come from a number of sources for example:
1. Customers: in the form of complaints or commendations – staff could record it
and then management can assess the situation and take the necessary actions
2. Staff: to have regular team meetings to enable staff to report back on feedback
they received from customers. Staff meetings or training sessions to get staff
opinions on products and services and customer service delivery.
3. Management: manager visiting the organisations to observe issues that may not
have been noticed by staff, because the staff too closely involved with service
delivery.
4. “Non-users”: useful to find out why people are not using an organisation but
choosing to spend their money on competing products and services.
Informal feedback is very important in helping tourism organisations to evaluate and
monitor their standard of customer service delivery.
FORMAL FEEDBACK:
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When an organisation actively encourages customers and staff to comment on its
products, services and level of customer service delivery.
Customer surveys:
 Two types of customer surveys: customer comment cards (usually contain a few
questions) and customer satisfaction questionnaires (tend to be longer, giving
customers the opportunity to comment in detail)
 Surveys invite customers to make comments on the quality of service and
standards of facilities they have experience while making travel arrangements or
during their holiday
 Surveys ask customers to rate something numerically or to use words ‘good’ or
‘poor’.
1. Customer complaints records:
 This is a visitors book
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 Customer records are formal records of customer comments
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4. Suggestion boxes:
 Enables customers to make a brief comment about the level of service they
received.
 One of the advantages of suggestion boxes as a feedback technique is that
customers can remain anonymous.
5. Focus groups:
 Involve interviewing a number of customers at the same time
 Used to find out customers’ opinions and feelings about a company’s particular
products or services or about a more general topic.
 For example a theme park may hold a focus group discussion to identify
customers’ views about the service that they receive when visiting the park.
6. Mystery customers:
 Sometimes called a “company spy”.
 A mystery customer is a researcher who investigates an organisation by using its
services while pretending to be a customer
 Mystery customer analyses the level of customer service and then reports back
to the management.
7. Observation:
 Observing how staff deals with different customers and looking at what they do
well, as well as what they could improve on.
 For example: observing the way that customers behave during a tour of a
township and the extent to which they find it interesting and informative.
8. Follow-up phone calls or visits (enquires)
 Used by tourism organisations to evaluate the level of service received by
customers.
 An employee of the organisation will contact customers, usually by telephone
and ask them how they felt about the service they received.