Tourism Management 27 (2006) 874–877 Tourism service quality begins at the airport Roberto Rendeiro Martı´n-Cejas Departamento de Ana´lisis Econo´mico Aplicado, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Universitario de Tafira, Edificio Departamental de CC.EE.Y EE.-Mo´dulo D, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain Received 17 November 2004; accepted 13 May 2005 Abstract This work analyses the level of service of Gran Canaria airport facilities as an approximation to evaluate the service quality given to tourism. Through a linear programming model we will determine the level of service established in a check-in service at this airport. The relevance of this parameter is related to the leisure time available for tourists in the airport terminal building. Therefore, it gives us an indirect measure of their perceived satisfaction of the service. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Quality; Airport; Tourism; Level of service 1. Introduction Tourism service is a commodity whose quality depends on the aspects that are intrinsic attributes of several activities related with this kind of service: activities that happen from tourists’ arrival till their departure. Airport infrastructure is the first and last point of tourists’ contact in their holiday destination; thus, it constitutes the mobility axe of tourists. These activities have to be ‘‘processed’’ through airport in an efficient way to minimize travel time and to enjoy shopping and leisure time in the commercial area of the airport at the end of their holidays. Because of that, it is relevant to evaluate airport facilities quality as a factor of tourism service commodity. Section 2 points out the influencing airport quality service factors. Next, through a simple queues analysis, the level of service for a check-in mechanism at Gran Canaria airport is estimated. The last section presents the conclusions of this work. 2. Quality perception of tourism service Tourist satisfaction is crucial in the sense that it affects expectations and intentions for the next destina- tion purchasing decision. Thus, tourist destination considers customer satisfaction as one of the most important sources of their competitive advantage (Fuchs & Weiermair, 2004). Some authors suggest that service quality is a vital antecedent of customer satisfaction and, concretely, some relevant aspects of quality perception as promptness of service and on-time programming (Getz, O’Neill, & Carlsen, 2001). Several activities related to tourism service like, for instance, transport infrastructure have to be provided in an efficient way to guarantee a high level of tourism service quality. For transport services, reliability be- comes the core of service quality. Airport infrastructures are the first contact point for tourists when they arrive at their holiday destination. Therefore, airport facilities give them the first impres- sion they will have about the expected quality of their holiday time. When passengers are processed by airports they use several services such as, check-in, passport and security controls in departure, and baggage claim service and passport control when arriving. ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman 0261-5177/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2005.05.005 Tel.: 34 928 45 28 08; fax: 34 928 45 81 83. E-mail address: rrendeiro@daea.ulpgc.es.