| Abstract |
Purpose of the article Through the study and the application of optimization, the article is searching for solutions to essential tourism and tourism enterprises problems, concerning the management and competitiveness. It is also assumed that optimization is inherent of tourism enterprises, considering that in order to compete successfully, their activity must be optimized, according to the environmental dynamics, while taking into account the limit of the available resources Methodology/methods Optimization can be done through continuous improvement or reengineering. In the article, the general formulation of the optimization problem is based on the assumption that each object/site (in this case, tourism enterprises), is characterized by X input and Y output parameters, defining its status in due time. These parameters associated with system functions, compile the mathematical model. Scientific aim Here, the subject of research is the tour operator agency and the managerial influences exerted on it, i.e. the internally integrated set of contents, organizational forms, actions and managerial methods used and developed with regard to the business. They are mutually determined and ensure the achievement of the goal set - deducing a specific model to be applied for the improvement of the tour operator agency management for the needs of its sustainable and competitive functioning. Findings The optimization process is part of the tour operators' activity and life cycle. Wide spread belief is that optimization extends only to pure technological aspects of the process and ignores the other lesser important issues, such as management and tourism competitiveness. The above stated is a result of the presumption that the primarily effects of the optimization can be obtained only by hi-technical equipment, ignoring the usage of a variety of elements implemented directly or indirectly in the tourism products, businesses and destinations life's cycle. Conclusions The optimization model of a given system - in this case a tour operator's agency - builds up abstractly and in a simplified way its actual parameters. It also sustains the clarification about the interrelations between the work processes, information flows, production times, costs, capacity, influencing decisively tour operators' competitiveness. |