Performance measurement in tourism: a value chain model

Purpose – The tourism industry consists of various players and tourism demand is met by the joint efforts of these players. However, it seems that there is no attempt in the tourism management literature proposing frameworks or models, which can assist the tourism companies, evaluate and control the overall tourism value chain. This paper attempts to show the usability of value chain concept in the tourism industry to manage and measure the value chain processes. Design/methodology/approach – A tourism value chain model with four stages; win order, pre‐delivery support, delivery, and post‐delivery support, is developed. A value chain performance measurement model for the tourism industry is suggested according to the value chain model developed. Findings – There is an opportunity to study the tourism industry as a value chain and to develop a value chain oriented performance management and measurement framework that would allow various players to communicate and coordinate their processes and activities in a more mature manner. Therefore, it becomes critical to measure and manage the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the tourism product and services from a value chain management perspective. The framework has some implications for both practitioners and researchers. Practical implications – The tourism companies can use the suggested model as a guide to evaluate their performance in terms of customer and internal dimensions through the value chain perspective. Mapping of existing thinking on performance measurement against the proposed tourism value chain model reveals gaps for further research, such as: the need to study the tourism industry as an end‐to‐end value chain; the need for understanding and measuring the performance of front‐end win‐order and pre‐delivery‐support processes; and the need for managing the delivery process as a whole rather than as two or three unrelated services. The model is intended to be useful for the practitioners when designing and implementing a framework who search for the whole tourism chain effectiveness using both internal and customer related metrics. Originality/value – The paper highlights the need to evaluate the overall tourism value chain through the customer and internal dimensions and suggests a unique model for this aim.