How to Achieve Quality Management

Description

The debate about quality` on management of tourist structures is calling the attention of the operators, particularly of those more involved in international competition. Also in the specific sector of marinas management, the operators have, since long, searched to achieve the goal of quality. For this purpose, AIPCN/PIANC and EUROMARINA, the most representative international and national associations, have recommended significant guide lines. They represent a precious point of reference for operators and mainly consist in the determination of marinas technical standards, with some mentions to management criterias, still referred, though, to technical choices. Starting from AIPCN/PIANC and EUROMARINA guide lines, we wanted to deal with quality adopting a different and complementary approach in comparison with the one so far adopted. In particular, we focused our attention on customers, considered as consumers with their peculiarities, expectations, needs and preferences. In the present report, ideally linked to the one realized in occasion of the 1993 International Marina Conference of Amsterdam, we`ll show the results of a research carried out partly in 1994 and partly in 1995 with the purpose of giving some indications, hopefully useful, for defining the topic and offering, in the meanwhile, hints for debate and investigation. We have thus analyzed some aspects, so far not much studied, of marinas management referring ourselves to the quality of the relationship between the supplier of the services (operator) and the buyers (boat owners). We did so in consideration of the fact that, in the Italian reality, except for the few cases of harbours (mainly of transit), located in tourist sites, operators do not feel much the need of conforming the management criterias to those adopted for other tourist activities, recreational or for the freetime.