Abstract
In developing and sustaining tourism, destination management involves the coordination of various stakeholders, and theory suggests that securing sustainability, including stakeholder interests in decision-making and strategic planning is crucial. Therefore, understanding stakeholders’ interests and relationships is also essential. In the Austrian Alpine region, small- and medium-sized family businesses offering tourism products dominate the rural tourism landscape. However, little research has been done on how these family firms contribute to shaping the destination’s future. Therefore, through guided interviews, this qualitative study examined family-business owners’ perceptions of risks for Austrian tourism destination development. Family firms externalized such risks as labor shortage as a structural issue and neglected their responsibility to attract employees by improving working conditions. Thus, the externalization of risks to other stakeholder groups prevented family firms’ proactive approach to sustainable destination development.
Highlights
To be sustainable and to remain competitive in the long run, every tourism destination must manage risk given its specific characteristics and environment
Accounting for approximately 50 million overnight stays in 2018, one-third of Austria’s tourism is based in the Tirol [2] because of its magnificent mountain landscapes and some of the world’s best skiing. These circumstances have implications for tourism destinations’ organization, in that “nature-based industries like rural tourism are dominated by family firms” [3] (p. 1204)
Predominant risk areas extracted from the data included climate change, price dumping, hiring qualified labor, and destination development
Summary
To be sustainable and to remain competitive in the long run, every tourism destination must manage risk given its specific characteristics and environment. Accounting for approximately 50 million overnight stays in 2018, one-third of Austria’s tourism is based in the Tirol [2] because of its magnificent mountain landscapes and some of the world’s best skiing. These circumstances have implications for tourism destinations’ organization, in that “nature-based industries like rural tourism are dominated by family firms” [3] Waidring is connected to the Steinplatte skiing area and, in summer, is known for climbing [12]
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