KVALITA DESTINACE CESTOVNÍHO RUCHU - INTEGROVANÝ MANAGEMENT KVALITY

Abstract

The paper deals with the quality of tourism services. It mentions various ways of approaching quality management, such as the standards of quality, systems based on ISO standards and systems of complex quality management. It describes approaches applied in the Czech Republic and points out the difficulty keeping the quality in tourism. Tourism services are not offered individually, which is why it is necessary to assess the quality of a whole complex of services within the frame of a tourism product or a tourist destination. The level of tourists' satisfaction is not based on the quality of individual tou­rism services or a destination product but it arises from their overall impression which is formed from the hospitality of local inhabitants, the willingness of employees, the cleanness of the environment, security and so on. The presumption of maintaining the quality of a destination is a unified approach of all participants in tourism development that can be reached by various forms of cooperation. Crea­ting a strategic alliance is one of such possibilities. The main objective of the article is to introduce the European system of Integrated Quality Management (IQM) and the tool for assessing the qua­li­ty in a destination “Qualitest”. The Integrated Quality Management is an approach based on the cooperation of all areas taking part in tourism development in a destination. The qua­li­ty is assessed in a complex way with respect to tourism development impacts on local inhabitants and the environment. “Qualitest” is made of 16 indexes that are focused on the quality of a destination and the quality of a product. Each index is evaluated by three indicators that asses the quality of conditions (QPCI), the quality of management (QMI) and the quality of a destination performance (QPI). These indicators combine qualitative as well as quantitative values. The precondition for using “Qualitest” in our destinations is the existence of a functional tourism organization fulfilling the task of destination management, the results of the survey concerning the satisfaction of visitors and ser­vi­ce suppliers in a destination and the cooperation with public sector for the purpose of obtaining data for QPI (police, municipal authorities, trade supervisory office). Such materials provide a methodical base for accomplishing “Qualitest” in a suitable destination.