Development of an AHP-QFD framework for designing a tourism product

Abstract

A tourism product, characterised by its non-amenability to uniform product specifications, is considered to be an amalgam of different tangible and intangible elements. Keeping in view the heterogeneity, perishability and the uniqueness involved in a tourism product, the present study attempts to develop an AHP-QFD framework for designing a tourism product, which takes care of the touristic needs of tourists. The framework has been demonstrated with the help of an illustrative case study. Having identified the needs of tourists with reference to a tourist destination, the needs are prioritised with the help of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Subsequently, the concept of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is employed to formulate operating strategies by eliciting opinions from tourism professionals. Pairwise relationships among the operating strategies are investigated to find out whether the strategies support each other or are in conflict with each other. Finally the strategies are prioritised and evaluated, which enables the design of a tourism product incorporating the diverse needs of tourists.