This
paper defines the term "
operations management" and explains how this type of management came about. It talks about how operations management, at one time applied only to products, now applies to services as well. This change has allowed the
tourism and
hospitality industries to rely on operations management, even though its original concept of derived from production environments. The paper goes on to discuss the way operations management is utilized in the tourism and hospitality industries and why it is so important to these industries. The case of Marriott International is used to illustrate the points made by the paper.