SERVICE QUALITY AND OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF TOUR OPERATORS IN KENYA

Abstract

The paper explores the relative significance of service quality components and how these
affect the operational performance of firms in the tourism industry. Empirical data for this
study was drawn from 86 service operations managers of tourism enterprises in Kenya.
Several analytical techniques were used to assess the relationships among the variables
under investigation and these included the mean scores, standard deviations, and
correlations. The findings of this study suggest that there are significant relationships
between the variables under study. The results suggest that both technical quality and
functional quality need to be enhanced, with functional quality demanding high priority. The
corporate image falls into areas that require more improvement. Furthermore, this study
analyzes the views of service quality among micro, small and medium-size firms and their
affiliations. The findings show that although both micro-and-small enterprises managed
independently generally place a similar level of importance on service quality components as
medium-internationally affiliated firms, these firms are still unsuccessful in attaining high
operational performance.