Understanding Host Community’s Experiences in Establishing and Developing Small Tourism Enterprises in Lombok, Indonesia

Abstract

Entrepreneurship has been suggested as an ideal means to stimulate host community participation in tourism development, particularly in developing countries (Hampton, 2005; Tosun, 2006). The growing literature on entrepreneurship and tourism includes relatively few studies that empirically explore and identify the entrepreneurial process in tourism. While stimulating the emergence of indigenous tourism entrepreneurs requires an understanding of the entrepreneurial process, the entrepreneurial process in tourism remains unclear, due to the lack of research on the phenomenon (Koh, 2006). The current study, therefore, sought to provide insights into entrepreneurial process in the tourism industry, the context in which the process occurs, and the entrepreneurial strategies that support the process, especially from an indigenous entrepreneur’s perspective. The study was conducted in five tourist destinations on Lombok Island, Indonesia. Twenty-eight host community members, twenty-one owner-managers of small tourism enterprises and seven other tourism stakeholders, were selected as research participants, and were engaged in the crystallisation process throughout the study. Observation was made in the twenty-one enterprises.