Abstract

In 2012 design of a tool for identifying the service quality of active tourism businesses was completed: the HEVA evaluation tool. In 2013 HEVA was launched for all active tourism companies registered with the 52 tourist boards of Spain’s provinces and a sample of 918 active companies was obtained. 186 of these companies were used for this study. HEVA analyzes three key aspects: Identification of the sector profile of the companies, evaluation of the parameters that recognize the quality of service, and the perception of the company’s manager in relation to what customers identify as the quality of the service it provides. These are crucial in understanding and determining processes that help company management teams. By way of conclusion, most of the companies considered that their activity is more recognized within the tourism sector (80.6 %) than within the sports one. In the evaluation of the service quality parameters, the human resources parameter gains greatest recognition (97.7 %), while in the perception of the company managers there are significant differences for customers in factors such as handling complaints and complementary products.