Hospitality and Tourism Management: Adopting Lean Six Sigma, Achieving Service Excellence

This paper reviews the potential benefits of Lean Six Sigma for service providers in the tourism and hospitality industry. The fact that Lean Six Sigma was designed and mainly used by the manufacturing industry makes it seem unattractive for service providers. The goal is to provide scientific information on the advantages and difficulties associated with implementing Lean Six Sigma in a tourism and hospitality operation, with a focus on Asia. In order to gather information for this paper, a literature review and field research were conducted in several South East Asian touristic attractions. The discussion entails the extent to which two selected attractions can employ Lean Six Sigma, and what benefits could result from using them. Overall, Lean Six Sigma has high potential in the tourism and hospitality industry, but has yet to be more frequently used by businesses operating in this sector.