SME resilience as a catalyst for tourism destinations: a literature review

Abstract

This study proposes a holistic framework, which synthesized the literature on resilience, tourism, and tourism micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The dimensions of resilience were used as lens to highlight the role played by tourism small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and extract strategies for tourism destination resilience amid various disasters. The systematic integrative literature review of 107 documents covered six books and 101 papers. Seven sources are chapters from 6 books and 94 articles from 47 journals. The literature review uses thematic analysis to extract dimensional concepts from extant literature on resilience, tourism resilience, and tourism MSMEs. Key insights on limitations and strategies on resilience emerged from the review. These addressed aspects of governance, economics, environment, and social resilience. This analysis led to the formulation of a framework that underscored the dimensions of tourism. It provides insights for tourism policymakers in drafting strategies to address limitations, which anchored on a more comprehensive perspective. As a contribution to theory, this study expanded the scope of resilience dimensions to address limitations. The strategies intend to fortify MSME resilience as a dominant part of tourism resilience. The insights from the study offer an enhanced view of tourism MSME resilience as crisis and disaster management literature.