Toward a Rapid and Sustainable Recovery in the Tourism Industry Using Lean Manufacturing Principals

Abstract

The tourism industry sector is among the economic growth drivers in many countries worldwide. Unfortunately, this sector was one of the most affected sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives of this study are to implement selected lean management principles to speed up and sustain the sector’s recovery. The country of Jordan is among those countries which is depending on the tourism industry and will be selected as a model to implement the goals of this study. The number of tourists visiting Jordan on a monthly basis for two years, their nationalities, and the trip organizing agencies were collected and investigated for this study using group technology. Group technology, as a lean manufacturing tool is selected to be investigated and applied for having favorable clusters in terms of their economic, social, and health impact. Two scenarios were examined: the first scenario is clustering visitors based on their nationalities, and the second scenario is clustering based on travel agencies. Then, for each scenario, the developed tools were used to come up with recommendations for Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA) to communicate between the travel agencies to take advantages from the grouping to arrange and optimize tourists’ trip which may increase their profit and reduce tourists’ travel cost. In conclusion, the used procedure could provide the planners with a useful and powerful instrument for tourism development and prosperity.