The world economy is dominated by the service sector, with the traditional ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ industries (of agriculture, raw materials and manufacturing) being overtaken in the past few decades. More recently, these changes are even more profound, with advances in information technology, mobile technology and big data providing revolutionary opportunities for faster, more personalised and higher quality service (Ostrom et al, 2015). The transformation of economies that has seen the growing size and importance of the service sector has also fuelled the growth of tourism, resulting in its development as a global industry. Tourism businesses are essentially service business enterprises – focussed on service excellence and creating memorable experiences. They therefore must be studied within a service industry framework, and service management theory is well suited to understanding, leading and managing in tourism.

The purpose of this review is to introduce service management principles in the context of tourism. This is done via an explanation of the evolution from a product to a service management orientation and an evolutionary mapping of management thought. Then, an overview of relevant service management topics is provided followed by an overview of the emerging issues and future focused agenda in the field of service management.