A CONCEPT OF A MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION-MAKING SYSTEM IN TOURISM, USING MODELS OF SYSTEM DYNAMICS

Abstract

Tourism is a type of inter-organisational system with global and local properties. Problems are defined softly and phenomena are uncertain. There are demands for fast and integrated decisions for guest satisfaction as service users and tourism organisations as service providers. There are many different methodologies and methods that master softly structured problems. Here one encounters methods of systems dynamics and systems thinking. These tools were first brought into force in the educational and training area in the form of different computer simulations and later as tools for decision-making and organisational re-engineering. System dynamics models are essentially simple and can serve only as describers of the activity of basic mutual influences among variables. Attention will be paid to the methodology for parameter model values determination and the so-called mental model, which is the basis of causal connections among model variables. Thus, a connection between qualitative and quantitative models will be restored.