Regional Environment of Destination and the Entrepreneurship of Small Tourism Businesses: A Case Study of Dali and Lijiang of Yunnan Province

Small tourism businesses play vital roles in tourism destinations. However, an understanding of the extent to which the destination where the business is located influences decisions made by tourism entrepreneurs has not received the attention it deserves. Based on 173 questionnaires and 50 interviews in Dali and Lijiang, and using factor analysis, the author explores the effect of regional environmental factors on the entrepreneurship of small tourism firms. Seven factors were derived with a cumulative variance of 66.8% explained. Tourism attractiveness, including the natural and human environment as well as regional economics, drives the macro-location of small tourism firms and is the most important influence factor, followed by information and communication factors. The market potential and accessibility, which are keys to success, are also important factors that entrepreneurs considered. The family background provides support for entrepreneurs. Also, emotional supports among entrepreneurs with shared values, hobbies, and experience are crucial for lifestyle entrepreneurs to start a venture. However, the influence of financial environment, government policy, and labor conditions are not perceived to be significant to the entrepreneurs.     

The interface between hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship,integration and well-being: A study of refugee entrepreneurs

Previous hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship research has emphasized the economic and financial outcomes of entrepreneurship whilst paying less attention to social outcomes. Specifically, minimal academic attention, both in mainstream entrepreneurship research and hospitality and tourism scholarship, has been paid to entrepreneurship as a means to facilitate the integration of refugees and enhance their well-being. To address this gap, this study aims to showcase how entrepreneurial activities in the hospitality and tourism industry contribute to the integration and subjective well-being of entrepreneurs. Drawing on data collected through 38 semi-structured interviews with Syrian refugee entrepreneurs in Turkey and the UK, the findings reveal that several factors influence the contribution of entrepreneurial activities to the integration of entrepreneurs and their families within the host society. Entrepreneurial activities also appear to have positive spillover effects on subjective well-being. This paper offers new insights into the social outcomes of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship by conceptualizing and empirically supporting the relationship between hospitality entrepreneurship, integration and well-being.     

Entrepreneurial strategies and tourism industry growth

This paper investigates the relationship between entrepreneurship strategies and industry growth. Drawing on a longitudinal database of 481 tourism strategic planning documents, a sampling framework is used to map tourism strategies, tourism entrepreneurship strategies and tourism entrepreneurship strategic themes to tourism region by year (across a 10-year cycle), as well as to compile corresponding tourism jobs and visitation growth data. Exploratory bibliometric visuals and logistic regression reveal that regions with a tourism strategy and targeted strategies to support entrepreneurs predict tourism growth, specifically strategies for human capital development and tourism incubation programs. Future research should focus on the efficacy of tourism incubation programs for stimulating entrepreneurial activity in regional areas and as a mechanism to stimulate recovery from global crises.     

Lifestyle Segmentation in Tourism and Leisure

ABSTRACT

This article examines three different approaches to lifestyle segmentation in improving the quality of tourism and leisure marketing decisions in three separate cases. Tourism and leisure products are prototypical lifestyle purchase yet in many tourism research studies visitors are described by demographics or tourism behaviour only. These cases illustrate different approaches to lifestyle segmentation. Firstly, there are segmentation schemes based on external logic that can be broadly applied across a range of markets, including tourism and leisure. Alternatively, there are schemes that are based on a 'conversation' with the data and which rely on an internal logic within that data that may not transfer to other market contexts. Between these two lie schemes that apply external paradigms to specific datasets. The cases selected illustrate points along this spectrum.

The first case study examines the use by government tourism organizations of lifestyle segmentation 'bought in' from an external source. Here lifestyle segmentation data is collected from a representative sample of the Australian population as part of a commercial “single source” data set. The second case is based on a regional tourism study, which has utilized prior theory to develop its own lifestyle segmentation and at the same time related this to boarder characteristics of tourists in Tropical North Queensland. The third case examines the development of tailored lifestyle segmentation among 'event' spectators based on purely internal criteria unrelated to the broader population. These cases provide insight into the appropriate development and application of lifestyle segmentation and the use of the data by tourism and leisure managers. Managers may think about the type of lifestyle segmentation approach required based on how the segmentation scheme results need to be related to the wider market or population.     

Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship in Alpine Tourism

ABSTRACT

The paper addresses the need for more research in the field of entrepreneurial education in tourism, using the models of Butler's destination life cycle and Porter's diamond of competitive advantages. Following is a discussion of entrepreneurship in tourism in light of these analytical frameworks. As a consequence, key qualification and skill areas for tourism entrepreneurs are derived. Finally, the authors provide an overview of the main institutions that offer education in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland with a focus on entrepreneurship in tourism and establish critical needs for tourism entrepreneurship curricula and research.     

The Place Identity - Performance relationship among tourism entrepreneurs: A structural equation modelling analysis

Drawing on the literature on tourism, entrepreneurship, environmental psychology, and corporate philanthropy, this research examines how place identity, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and support for community influence the entrepreneurial performance of small and medium tourism enterprise (SMTE) owners. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling are used to analyse the responses from 301 tourism entrepreneurs operating in regional South Australia. The data supports a model suggesting that the place identity of tourism entrepreneurs has a significant, positive effect on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and support for the community. Findings also suggest that the place identity of tourism entrepreneurs has a positive, indirect effect on entrepreneurial performance: a tourism entrepreneur’s sense of identity with the place in which his/her business operates contributes toward entrepreneurial success.     

Collective tourism social entrepreneurship: A means for community mobilization and social transformation

Communities depicted by lack of opportunities for development often look to tourism initiatives as a means to combine economic growth and community building. Such activity highlights a nexus between tourism, social entrepreneurship and community development. This nexus has been investigated somewhat in tourism literature, but lacks empirical backing, as well as theoretical refinement. We argue that a collective perspective on social entrepreneurship in the tourism context is needed, and introduce a concept and framework for ‘Collective Tourism Social Entrepreneurship’. We investigate how these principles are utilized by local communities to combat depopulation and deterioration in two Danish destinations, and find that the proposed process can create (social) value even if the expected result is never reached.     

旅游发展、空间溢出与经济增长——来自中国的经验证据

针对传统经验研究文献忽视空间相关性而导致的研究结论偏颇问题,文章采用经济学较为前沿的空间面板计量方法,利用中国30个省份1999~2009年面板数据,实证检验了旅游发展与经济增长之间的影响关系。研究结果表明:旅游发展呈现出明显的空间自相关性,具有显著空间集聚特征,大部分省份处于高-高和低-低类型区;旅游发展对经济增长具有显著正向促进作用,传统面板回归模型没有考虑空间相关性,高估了这一作用;旅游发展对经济增长存在显著空间溢出效应,并具有较强的稳健性。     

Social capital as a heuristic device to explore sociocultural sustainability: a case study of mountain resort tourism in the community of Steamboat Springs,Colorado, USA

This study investigates the feasibility of combining environmental protection and an agricultural revitalisation strategy which includes food tourism in two Danish national parks, Mols Bjerge and Skjern Aadal. Both the parks include significant agricultural holdings and, to a great extent, a “natural” landscape of farmed grassland and arable land. The international research literature documents that park administrations have tended to neglect the role of food and food-based experiences in parks, despite park visitors preferring more attractive eating facilities, purchasing opportunities and food-related interpretation. A survey of food producers and providers in Denmark revealed that traditional, productivity-oriented farmers tended to oppose the establishment of parks, holding the view that “sharing” the land with others diminished their competitiveness. While this view might hamper rapid progress in food tourism, the survey also discovered an emerging trend of small-scale food entrepreneurship, albeit on a fragmented and uncoordinated level. Tourism-oriented food entrepreneurs wanted to see joint marketing and labelling of food products along the lines of OECD's (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) “new rural paradigm”. The study identified governance opportunities that could accommodate the wellbeing of both tourists and food producers, but which requires a proactive role from the national park authorities, especially in marketing and the development of events.     

Recontextualising gender in entrepreneurial leadership

Drawing on the literature examining the nexus between gender, entrepreneurial leadership and entrepreneurial performance, this article critically explores a framework for analysing the role of gender in shaping entrepreneurial performance and leadership in tourism firms in a non-western context. Utilising a poststructural feminist lens that challenges normative accounts of entrepreneurial leadership practices, a qualitative analysis of interview data from tourism entrepreneurs in Ghana and Nigeria provides evidence of how entrepreneurial performances and leadership are gendered, fluid and constantly being negotiated. The article extends current discussions within tourism entrepreneurship to engage more meaningfully with gender, thereby assisting in deconstructing homogenous, fixed conceptualisation of entrepreneurial leadership - often evident within the broader leadership and entrepreneurship literature dominated by Anglo-Western approaches.     

How do lifestyle hospitality and tourism entrepreneurs manage their work-life balance?

This study uses border theory to explore how lifestyle hospitality and tourism entrepreneurs manage their work-life balance. This research utilizes in-depth interviews and observations from Dali and Lijiang, China. Three types of findings emerged. First, for lifestyle entrepreneurs, work and personal life are not divided; business is considered a style of living, not work. Second, lifestyle entrepreneurs’ boundary management tactics include temporal tactics, physical tactics, and psychological tactics. Third, the factors influencing the work-life balance of lifestyle entrepreneurs include personal factors and the contextual factors related to tourism destinations. This paper contributes to border theory by indicating how an individual’s psychological borders have a decisive effect on work-life balance perception, and how both the tourism and Chinese contexts moderate the psychological borders of work-life balance to some extent.     

Women as vectors of social entrepreneurship

Drawing on the literature examining women in the tourism sector and social entrepreneurship, this article critically explores a theoretical framework for analyzing the role of women owner-managers of small tourism firms (STFs) as social entrepreneurs. Through a qualitative analysis of owner-managers of STFs, the article provides evidence of how women integrate social transformational and commercial goals in their business strategies, while serving defined communities around the tourism sector. By critically examining the operationalization of these goals and community needs, the development impacts of women-owned STFs and opportunities for women social entrepreneurship in the tourism sector are identified and discussed.     

The nature of ethical entrepreneurship in tourism

This article examines ethical entrepreneurship in tourism by developing a Weberian Ideal-Type Construct for an ethical tourism entrepreneur, and thereby deeper understanding of ethical tourism entrepreneurship. This research contributes to the extremely scarce literature at the academic juncture of ethics, tourism and entrepreneurship, which is significant as tourism is characterised by entrepreneurial idiosyncrasies with ethical challenges. The study is methodologically rooted in Personal Construct Theory. The qualitative findings from 15 semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs, who have been commended for their ethical business conduct, show that ethical entrepreneurship in tourism is based on intuitionism, care and relationships, future-orientation, humility and benevolence as key virtues. These findings challenge the more traditional views of entrepreneurial attributes, such as egoism, risk-taking and opportunism.     

Motivations for entrepreneurship in the tourism and hospitality sector: A social cognitive theory perspective

A critical examination of the literature suggests that further work is needed to understand the relationship between small tourism and hospitality businesses and their external social-economic environments. In particular, the nature of personal and environmental factors influencing tourism entrepreneurship remains unknown. Focusing on one type of small business, guest houses, this study aims to examine entrepreneurs’ motivations from a dynamic perspective and explore the nature of personal and environmental factors affecting motivations for entrepreneurship. Taking a qualitative approach, four patterns of change in (or maintenance of) motivation are identified. Guided by social cognitive theory, this study finds that, among the relevant personal factors are cognitive beliefs, intrinsic needs, and demographic factors, while the environmental facilitators include changes in the tourism market, changes within the industry, and changes in setting/location. Finally, a model of small business operators’ motivations for engaging in entrepreneurship in the tourism and hospitality sector is proposed.     

An Analysis of Regional Positioning and Its Associated Food Images in French Tourism Regional Brochures

Summary

The image of France has often been associated with that of food and wines and images of food products, vineyards and restaurants have traditionally dominated national and regional promotional strategies and tour operators' brochures alike. Indeed, food represents a powerful eye-catcher and a strong symbol of quality of life and authenticity, as a result it has represented an important theme used in advertisements. However, the food theme is in fact multiple and can also be used to portray symbols of cultural identify, communication and status. Therefore, the present study first aims at identifying the different food images that can be used by tourism advertisers in their promotional material. Secondly the study aims at investigating how different food images can be used for specific destinations' positioning strategies. The research uses a content analysis to identify the types of food images used in 19 French regional tourism brochures. Results show that country products/dishes and raw/natural products dominate food images followed by wine and vineyards images. Images of food producers, chefs, restaurants and the presence of people in the pictures on the other side are underrepresented. Parallels between the categories of food images used in brochures and the corresponding positioning strategies chosen by the regions are not very strong. Nevertheless, the study indicates that regions that position themselves on the traditional/rural/authentic theme use mostly images of raw products, country products and market scenes while only a few regions position themselves on the gastronomy dimension. In other terms, the cultural dimension of food as an identity marker for the regions is its principal use, and images of food associated to communicating/sharing or to status/lifestyle statements are rarely used in French regional brochures.     

Indicators of Sustainable Tourism in New Zealand: A Local Government Perspective

The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) established a set of core indicators of sustainable tourism in 1995, which were promoted as a useful tool in the operationalisation of sustainable tourism development. Local authorities provide an established framework within which to operationalise the WTO's core indicators of sustainable tourism. This paper examines the extent to which sustainable tourism is reflected in the research practices and attitudes of local authorities within New Zealand. A nationwide survey investigated the importance of tourism, the current status of research and the perceived value of the WTO's core indicators of sustainable tourism within the New Zealand local authority framework (regional councils, territorial local authorities and regional tourism organisations). The importance of tourism within local authority areas was positively correlated with the number of different research activities undertaken.Two main types of research were identified: demand-related and supply-related research. Demand -related research is undertaken within the majority of local authority areas throughout New Zealand. However, supply-related research is under-represented. The WTO's core indicators were generically grouped into economic, planning, social and ecological indicator types. Regional councils showed a preference towards ecological indicators. Territorial local authorities and regional tourism organisations preferred economic and social indicators. The detailed implications are discussed.     

Entrepreneurship in island contexts: A systematic review of the tourism and hospitality literature

Entrepreneurship is vital to the success of tourism and hospitality and the sector makes an important contribution to many island economies. Despite this, far too little attention has been paid by researchers to tourism and hospitality entrepreneurship in islands (THEI). This research helps to address this gap through a systematic review of the literature, conducted to provide a platform for further research and to help investigators set their research priorities. Using the Scopus database and the PRISMA technique, a total of 132 articles were included in bibliometric and thematic content analyses. Although there has been an increase in THEI research, this has tended to focus on the Asia-Pacific region. It is suggested that researchers consider redressing this geographical bias and conduct more quantitative and comparative THEI studies. Further opportunities exist to investigate the characteristics and behaviors of island entrepreneurs and the impacts of the industrial and spatial aspects of THEI.     

Gender,tourism & entrepreneurship: A critical review

Dominant accounts of tourism entrepreneurship position successful entrepreneurial performance as masculine and economically informed; undervaluing gendered difference in approaches to entrepreneurship. When varying approaches are held in focus, women are positioned as ‘less than’, and in need of training and support. In reviewing the gender, tourism and entrepreneurship literature this paper draws attention to the marginal, yet decisive contributions of feminist postcolonial, political economy and poststructuralist approaches. Such approaches assist in questioning the implicit economic and masculine bias in the literature. Dominant definitions and evaluations of entrepreneurship need to be questioned, so as to challenge Global North conceptualizations of empowerment and success. Scholars ought to diversify the locations of research on entrepreneurship and gender, and engage more with policy critiques.     

民俗旅游产品创新中的顾客价值需求研究——以湘西自治州为例

文章从顾客视角出发并以湘西自治州为例, 在大量文献研究基础上采用问卷调查和顾客价值曲线分析法, 研究得出民俗旅游资源特质排序和湘西州大众旅游市场的顾客价值需求点;然后, 将两者进行对接, 构建出民俗旅游产品创新的顾客价值因子矩阵;最后, 结合矩阵分析提出产品创新的建议, 旨在为民俗旅游产品创新提供思路指导。研究表明：民俗旅游者有独特的价值需求。感民俗趣味、随性生活、猎奇、观民族风情为第一层级的价值需求, 对民俗旅游者有普遍强烈的吸引力;互动体验、城市疏离感、原始本真、赏原生美景、品地方美食为第二层级价值需求, 是民俗旅游产品创新中容易被忽视却拥有巨大市场前景的顾客价值点;冒险、艳遇浪漫、艺术创作为第三层级价值需求, 代表部分游客群体的突出需求, 是景区构建差异化特质的突破点;购买特色商品、民族特产是第四层级价值需求, 也是游客完成一次完整旅游的补充性价值需求。     

Importance and Measurement of Entrepreneurial Quality and Processes in Tourism

ABSTRACT

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) dominate the tourism industry in Europe. In the European Union, 94.4% of the accommodation and food sector has been classified as small businesses employing nine or less employees. In central and southern Europe for example, the average establishment size of hotels is 37 beds in 1998 (Hubertus, 2000, Weiermair and Peters, 2002). Due to the fact that small businesses are characterized by a preponderance of owner manager influence (Gagnon et al., 2000), entrepreneurial processes in tourism should be considered as one of the major fields of tourism research.

The behaviour of the owner manager moulds all factors that are relevant for the service delivery process (service quality, processes, structure, corporate culture, innovation management, etc.). The entrepreneur converts detected opportunities into marketable improvements and innovations and his perception and information processing mechanisms influence his actions.

Given the scant literature on entrepreneurial processes and decision making in tourism (but see Leghorél et al., 2000), the authors have developed an experimental design to form the conceptual foundation of enquiry into entrepreneurial processes. In particular, we postulate entrepreneurial quality to be measured not only by output, but by taking into account the structure, availability and use of information in the respective economic environment (Cooper et al., 1995, Magee, 1998).

While social sciences substantially contribute to entrepreneurial studies, their theoretical constructs are rather conceptional and sometimes difficult to link with economic reality (Swedberg, 2000). In some areas however these studies show considerable deficits. Economic theory for example neglects the psychological aspects of entrepreneurial behaviour. The psychology of entrepreneurs thus requires closer attention.

The entrepreneur's cognitive procedures have an influence on the design of the service delivery process. Psychological aspects of the entrepreneur particularly have an impact on information search and the detection of new opportunities as well as the realization of information and ideas. This paper thus investigates the market-related behaviour of entrepreneurs and the implementation of their ideas. The process of information acquisition is in the middle of attention.

The paper starts with a short overview on the role of cognition and affection in service processes. It is argued that tourism research should not be limited to analyzing entrepreneurs' personality structures but has to focus on the information handling and decision making behaviour of entrepreneurs. The second part hence provides a literature review of entrepreneurial processes, in general, and entrepreneurial behaviour, in particular, with the aim to construct a model of the entrepreneurial process (Koh, 1996, Wall, 2001). Our specific research agenda includes, as a special feature, information search and information usage behaviour of entrepreneurs in tourism as well as perception of and reaction to changes in the respective economic environment. Open research questions can be derived and will be the starting point for the main part of the paper, namely the experimental design. The aim of experimental methods is to exclude as many external variables as possible and thus to gather valid data on entrepreneurial processes and the respective independent variables which influence entrepreneurs' activities and decisions. The authors conclude with recommendations for future tourism research agendas.