ASSESSMENT OF THE PROGRESS OF THE QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN TRAVEL COMPANIES

Abstract

In the conditions of transformation of national economy and aggravation of competition at the travel market, companies of the Ukrainian small travel business have an important problem related to the increase of efficiency of the services quality management. One of the ways for solving this problem is to form the quality management system in travel companies for creating a competitive tourism product that can meet the needs of foreign and domestic consumers, promptly response to the market demand. This problem became particularly important after the coming into force of the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement. The aim of the article is to determine directions in improving the quality management system in travel companies for increasing the quality of services rendered to tourists and economic growth. The hypothesis of the research consists in the assumption that assessing levels of the quality management system development is a foundation for its improvement and increasing the competitiveness of travel companies. This hypothesis will be confirmed by studying 10 small travel business companies that are in Odessa Region, Ukraine. The method of expert evaluation was used for the study. The hypothesis of the research is proved. The experience in the experimental verification of a suggested approach for assessing levels of the quality management system development in 10 studied travel companies shows that the suggested customized approaches and research techniques can form modern instruments for diagnosing a current state of the corporate quality management, and are a foundation for improving the quality management system.