The role of supply chain management in tourism Research Paper

The role of supply chain management in tourism - Research Paper Example According to Zhang, Song and Huang, tourism supply chain management is â€Å"a set of approaches utilized to efficiently manage the operations of the tourism supply chain within a specific tourism destination, to meet tourist needs from the targeted source markets and accomplish the business objectives of different enterprises within the TSC† (p.345). In other words, supply chain management in tourism is essentially about coordinating the efforts of numerous providers within one and the same package of services, targeting one specific consumer market segment. A supply chain presupposes having a number of product and service providers enter in and sustain contractual relationships with one another. Consequentially, how each organization performs largely depends upon the quality and efficiency of performance among other organizations in the same supply chain. Over the last decade, supply chain management has already become a distinctive feature of business activity in tourism: this is mainly because tourism by itself operates through a complex combination of activities, interests, resources, and stakeholders all of which must be coordinated and functionally linked into a single supply chain. Certainly, the essence of SCM in tourism is distinctly different from that in manufacturing. While in manufacturing consumption usually follows production, in tourism production and consumption are almost always simultaneous. (Harewood 2008). Moreover, bearing in mind that tourism is neither tangible nor physical, supply chain management in tourism is essentially about coordinating various services from different suppliers at every single point of the tourism supply chain (Harewood 2008). It goes without saying that the nature and complexity of supply chains vary across tourism industries. Hotels, restaurants, and theme parks rely on different standards and principles of SCM. Nonetheless, whatever the industry, SCM is always a value-added activity that makes tourism providers more competitive and strengthens their position in the market. Supply chain effects on hotels Hotels are probably the basic and most influential ingredients in contemporary tourism industry. Much has been written and said about hotel operations and their implications for the development of the entire tourism industry. In its current state, the hotel sector of the global tourism industry comprises the features of rapid development and consumer-focused approaches to business. In this context, supply chains have a potential to enhance the quality and efficiency of hotel services supply and ensure that even the most sophisticated demands of consumers are consistently met. Supply chains are integrally linked to the quality and nature of