**1.1. The meanings of quality and quality management**

Quality is a common term used in everyday speech, but with various meanings. The term "quality" defines "an essential, or distinctive characteristic, property, or attribute; character with respect to fineness, or grade of excellence; superiority; excellence" [1].

In the modern industry, the first practical approach to quality was in a technical perspective, product related. But the quality thinking has evolved over time. The modern quality approach, specific to the last decades, is customer related: the quality is evaluated based on the customer requirements, and it means "fitness for use" [2, 3]. In this case, the term quality does not have the popular meaning of "best" in any absolute sense, it means best for certain target groups of customers; if a product or service meets expectations, then the quality has been achieved.

Taking into account customer orientation, Kosar and Kosar consider that "quality is a market category that encompasses the totality of creation and realization of tangible products and services, on the level to which their properties ensure the compliance with the requirements of demand" [4]. But the quality approach is more than marketing related: it covers the entire organization and includes all processes on which the client satisfaction depends. This holistic approach to quality in the organization context is generically called "Quality Management." Quality management presumes an approach of quality within the entire organization, given that satisfying customers and other stakeholders' requirements represent the mission of the whole system. As Juran highlights, quality is no longer a technical issue. It is a business issue and corresponds with the organization's mission to satisfy the stakeholders needs and expectations [5]. Achieving quality in organization is a matter of management; as Feigenbaum (1983) says "quality is a way of manage."

Implementation of quality management within the organization involves the development of processes, structures, methods, etc., by which there are systematically achieved planning, doing, controlling, and quality improvement. This succession summarizes the cycle of management activities in a modern approach [3]. Quality management integrates some basic principles: customer focus, leadership, engagement of people, improvement, process approach, evidence-based decision making, and relationship management, which are the defining elements of modern management [6].

A wider perspective on quality, which takes into account not only the requirements of customers but also of other interested parties, is synthesized in the expressions "Total Quality," or "Total Quality Management," extensively used in specialized studies and also in practice [2, 3]. TQM (abbreviation of Total Quality Management) defines a management philosophy characterized by integrating quality across the organization in order to satisfy customer and other stakeholders' requirements. The "total" attribute associated with quality term suggests the broad meaning assigned to quality, both in terms of coverage and objectives. Total quality refers to all areas of activity of the organization; it pursues the full satisfaction of the beneficiaries, through performances, deadlines, and prices, while obtaining economic advantages; it also presumes broad involvement in quality achievement of all staff [3].

The introduction of the expressions "quality management" and TQM date back to the 1990s and synthesizes an evolved level of quality approach from the perspective of management. It has developed with the major contribution of several specialists, the best known being Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, Crosby, and Ishikawa [7, 8]. This evolution process culminated in the emergence of the international standards for quality systems—the family of ISO 9000 standards (in 1987, the first edition), which favored the promotion of quality management principles and methods in all activity areas. The application of these standards in tourism is discussed in Section 2.1.
