Logistics and Supply Chain Management in Tourism

For the organizations which are involved in tourism, efficiency is conditioned, among other determinants, by the coordination and harmonization of all participants’ efforts from the specific activities chain: tourism services suppliers, tour-operators, travel agencies and tourists themselves. Among these participants, a special role is assigned to the tour-operators. Going from certain tourism attractions, they take upon themselves the fabrication of those products that are required by tourists, assembling the different basic and supplementary tourism services, that are offered by numerous services suppliers, and further, distributing them to the retailers, or directly to the tourists. The impact of their activity is very strong because through the realized products they incorporate different types of tourist services. Going from these aspects and analyzing in a similar manner the tourism activity as the material goods manufacturing activity from logistical point of view, it can be said that, successful activity can be achieved when those different participants categories act like a system, into a supply chain. On tour-operators’ level, the supply chain management incorporates, among the others, planning and management activities concerning purchasing suppliers selection, internal logistics’ management, as well as collaboration with all marketing channel partners. Internal logistics involves activities that refers to purchasing, operations’ support and some aspects that are similar with physical distribution, the supply chain being structured by cooperation between a various number of participants, from raw materials suppliers (their impact is visible especially in catering, foods or beverage suppliers services), up to end consumers. Otherwise, the role of the last category is more important because they lend the tourism activity specific nature, through there’s participation on a successful holiday product.