Assessing sustainable tourism development through service supply chain process maturity and service quality model

Purpose - This study aims to propose a framework for identifying and measuring the gaps between evaluation and goal setting in service supply chain (SSC) processes towards planning and development of sustainable tourism aligned with the firm's real conditions and capabilities. Design/methodology/approach - By the concept of the service quality gap model, the existing gaps between auditors' evaluation and the managers' goals in SSC processes maturity were examined. Then, each of the designed gaps was measured considering the goals addressed by managers’ and auditors' evaluation. Finally, the strategy and priority of sustainable tourism planning and development were determined based on importance–performance analysis (IPA). Findings - The gaps caused by the expectations and perceptions of the firm about the dissatisfaction of managers regarding their addressed goals and the evaluation of auditors in the planning and development of sustainable tourism can be classified into three categories of goals gap, assessment gap and main gap. To improve the performance of the firm in each of the evaluation criteria under the results of IPA analysis, solutions were provided. Practical implications - Realistic evaluation and recognition of the capabilities of the organization's processes through the proposed framework can be effective in goal setting and sustainable tourism development policies. Originality/value - The framework proposed in this study can be a suitable approach for the balanced growth of all aspects of the firm in planning and developing sustainable tourism and helps firms in setting the right and logical goals.