Towards Change Management in Tourism: the Evidence from North Macedonia

Abstract This paper investigates the perceptions and practices of managers of the tourism sector with regards to change management. It has been suggested that change management is an inevitable element for tourism businesses to increase their speed of response to market and competitive changes. Logically, it can be argued that tourism managers are best placed to initiate and facilitate this change. The primary data were obtained through a survey, carried out in tourist agencies in the Republic of North Macedonia and evaluated by using the tools of descriptive statistics and the methods of comparison, induction, deduction and synthesis. The key findings indicate that the majority of the respondents were familiar with the term change management and they implemented the change management practices. However, work still needs to be done to help the remaining companies to understand the necessity of changing the paradigm. Regarding the practical implications, this paper can serve as a stepping stone for future research that can uncover the potential, experiences and outcomes of change management in the tourism sector in the country.