**3. General conclusions and research agendas**

tourism which include quality criteria. One of the quality criteria refers to the assessment of customer satisfaction. This requirement can be solved in a classic way (via surveys based on questionnaire conducted by the tourism company), but the modern approach is to evaluate the results of online customers' reviews off the social media platforms. Integrating online guests' reviews in the process of rating and/or awarding quality marks in tourism is one of the recent changes of quality approach in tourism, with notable results (see Section 2.2.1). With respect to inclusion of environmental requirements within classification schemes, the adopted solutions are different from country to country in terms of number of requirements

In terms of improving the tourism specific models for environmental performance management, the most visible result is the creation of common evaluation criteria (see Section 2.4.2). A set of global sustainable tourism criteria (GSTC) has been promoted by UNWTO and UNEP in the early 1990s, in order to develop a common language about sustainability in tourism. In the EU also, the EU ecolabel and the set of criteria and labeling schemes for tourist accommo-

Another important aspect in the evolution of the quality and environment approach in tourism is the focus on tourist destinations (see Section 2.3). The main objective of this approach is to manage the various components of tourist destinations as a system, considering the satisfaction of tourists, and also the three pillars of sustainability: the economic profitability, the social, and environmental. Initiatives on this line exist at the European level—consisting of IQM model, and QUALITEST and ETIS as toolkits, and also at the international level— GSTC-D criteria established by the UNWTO and UNEP, respectively GREEN DESTINATION standard. As already mentioned, European and international instruments are different, but

As shown in Section 2.3, the results of these models implementation are modest, one of the reasons being the short time since their launch. Another reason is the complexity of the implementation process of IQM in tourist destination, which includes developing new management structures, planning, and control tools, data management systems, etc. In this regard, dissemination of the results of applied studies on this issue is important. The emergence of "Practical Guidelines for Integrated Quality Management in Tourism Destinations" also supports the IQM implementation, being useful to all stakeholder categories: tourism managers,

In terms of paternity of the quality and environmental models, several situations are distinguished. The first models have been created by professional organizations. At present, professional organizations are also involved, but increasing coordination of those programs is done at the international level, through UNWTO. Regional structures in the Americas, EU, Asia, and Africa are even important. The existence of general rules does not mean the patterning of models, but it provides some benefits: facilitates the understanding of quality and sustainability concepts and the harmonization of their approach, generating important advantages for all stakeholders. It should be noted that the existence of common international or regional models does not guarantee their successful implementation in tourism organizations. The coordination at the national level (see Section 2.2.2) is another key factor in the success of activities related to

dation services (TAS, 2003) and for campsite services (CSS, 2005) were launched.

and manner of presentation (dissipated or separate standards).

178 Mobilities, Tourism and Travel Behavior - Contexts and Boundaries

their harmonization was envisaged.

academics, professionals, and decision makers.

Quality approach in tourism is a central subject of about a quarter century, both in theory and practice. These demarches have resulted into elaboration and implementation of some models and standards for the tourist units' classification, respectively the quality certification. The diversity of models currently used makes their understanding difficult, being a challenge both to customers and service providers in terms of their credibility, market value, and implementation effects. Difficulties are amplified by the fact that, in parallel with quality tools, the environmental approach to tourism has evolved, and a variety of environmental certification standards and models have been elaborated. It can be said that although there is a visible and even increasing interest in quality in tourism, there is a lack of global understanding of quality and links to new practices related to the environment and sustainable development.

The reason for the orientation toward this subject has its roots in the authors' belief that a comprehensive review of the approach to quality and environment in tourism will contribute to a better understanding of the concepts regarding the quality and environment approach in tourism, and the links between them. At the same time, systematization of the information on existing models and their using contribute to identifying the directions of change in the quality approach in tourism, considering both the proposed models and the way of implementation.

Taking into account the comprehensive review and the conclusions presented above, future research directions are formulated on three levels of action: global and regional actions, national actions, and institutional actions.

(1) Increasing the involvement of the UNWTO, the EU commissions, and other regional coordination bodies in addressing quality and environment in tourism resulted in the development of common rules, models, criteria, quality, and environment guides.

These actions aiming to create unitary rules and tools for quality and environment management in tourism should continue. A periodical review and upgrading of the existing management tools is necessary, taking into account the new requirements and also the observations resulting from their implementation. A direction to improve tourism-specific models is to achieve a better harmonization with the international standards for management systems. The harmonization of models applied at the organization level with those used to the tourist destinations should also be analyzed.

The tourist destinations quality remains a research direction, and it targets both the tools created (IQM, ETIS) and their implementation.

(2) The development of national systems for quality and environmental management in tourism is a factor with a strong impact on the performance of the tourism industry.

Considering that in many countries, there are not national quality systems in tourism, or they are inefficient, it is important for future studies to be more focused on good practices examples and for projects to be initiated to implement national systems for quality assessment and certification in tourism or to improve those that already exist.

It is important to take into account the need for harmonizing the national systems with global and/or regional models, at the level of principles, concepts, methodologies, and action tools, for quality and environmental management.

(3) The development of national systems creates the framework for the implementation of quality and environment-oriented management methods in tourism organizations. But in the end, quality and environmental performances depend on the actions undertaken at the level of each tourism organization. From this perspective, future research studies must be directed to developing tools for quality and environment management systems and respectively to improving the process of implementation of those systems in organizations.

Given that SMEs, which have limited resources, are predominant in tourism, it is opportune to develop studies of analyzing and optimizing the key processes on which quality depends, namely human resources, customer relationship management, information management, and quality assessment. In terms of institutional quality assessment, the creation of QMS evaluation grids is recommended. The way tourism companies manage online guests' reviews, which presently are the primary tools of customer feedback, also needs study.

Likewise, the aspects related to human resources in tourism need to be further studied, in order to support the broad implementation of modern Human Resource Management practices in tourism. In this regard, the staff training and the development of appropriate organizational culture to achieve quality and environment objectives in tourism are priority issues.

In the end, it must be said that regardless of the models used, achieving success in implementing new management practices is not an objective, but a "journey" that includes the continuous improvement of the expected performance and the tools used. The change process is done from top to bottom, under the coordination of superior management. Making changes is not possible in the absence of leadership.
