Anna Zaremba
Geographical Studies, Issue 160, 2020, pp. 9 - 27
https://doi.org/10.4467/20833113PG.20.001.12259The paper concerns the quality of customer service in tourist services. The aim of this study is to present an assessment of the quality of customer service in selected travel agencies in Krakow. The spatial extent of research involved the Old Town with adjacent quarters and the Kazimierz district in Krakow. To achive the purpose of the work, a stocktaking of travel agencies and an assessment of the quality of customer service using a mystery shopping method were carried out from March to May 2019. The quality of customer service in Krakow’s travel agencies is varied. It is at an average but increasingly unsatisfactory level. Network travel agencies have a higher standard of customer service than non-network ones. The top-rated areas of customer service were staff appearance as well as their behaviour and personal culture during the conversation with a client. The lowest-rated areas were staff behaviour and personal culture during the customer enterance to the office as well as at the end of the conversation and while saying goodbye to the client. Only 16,0% of studied travel agencies showed maximum interest and respect to the customer. The research results presented in this paper can be used in the functioning of travel agencies in Poland to improve the quality of services in these types of enterprises and meet the requirements of quality management.