Small And Medium Tourism Enterprises Research Articles

Examining tourism SME owners’ place attachment, support for community and business performance: the role of the enlightened self-interest model

This research examines how support for the local community by small tourism businesses influences their enterprise performance, and the extent to which the owners’ place attachment influences the level of support that they provide to the community. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to analyse the responses from the owners of 298 small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs) operating in regional South Australia. Results of the analysis provide support for the validity of a structural model. The place attachment of tourism business owners has a significant positive effect on their support for the community which in turn has a significant positive effect on enterprise performance. The robustness of the structural model was tested through a series of invariance (equality) tests. Results demonstrate that the causal relationships among place attachment, support for community and enterprise performance hold true (are invariant) irrespective of the gender of the business owner, the size of the business, and/or the length of time the business has been operating. These findings have implications for research scholars in developing more robust tests of model relationships between and across groups, and for tourism policymakers aiming to support the sustainable development of regional tourism destinations.

Examining the Role of Entrepreneurial Experience and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy on SMTE Performance

This research examines how entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) of tourism entrepreneurs affect the performance of small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs). The conceptual structural model reflecting these interrelationships is examined in terms of data collected from 298 SMTE entrepreneurs in regional South Australia. Contrary to the findings of studies conducted in nontourism contexts, entrepreneurial experience was not related to ESE nor to enterprise performance. How long one has been in a tourism enterprise or how many enterprises an individual has owned is not a good predictor of whether that entrepreneur will be able to develop a high performing SMTE that contributes toward economic wealth and job creation in the community. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy, rather than entrepreneurial experience, is a significant predictor of enterprise performance among SMTEs. This raises a number of questions. If experience gained through operating an SMTE does not contribute toward entrepreneurial confidence or entrepreneurial performance, what does? Are tourism entrepreneurs so different from entrepreneurs found in other industries that theories require modification when applied in tourism? The findings suggest that destination managers and policy makers need to understand the importance of entrepreneurial self-efficacy if they wish to enhance performance within the industry.

The Effect of Gender and Age Differences on Media Selection in Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact that gender and age differences have on the communication media selection within the context of small and medium tourism enterprises (SMEs). Media Richness Theory (MRT) was used to assess media preferences in the firms. Using a mail questionnaire, data from 78 firms were collected on seven popular media in use. Historical data of the firms, media characteristics, and other firm-specific factors were included in the analysis. The results indicated that there are substantial gender and age differences in term of communication media selection. This is consistent with MRT and highlights the importance of choosing the appropriate media in SMEs, according with the employee's behaviors, in order to achieve better outcomes and to smooth the path towards good performance in the future.

Back of the Envelope: Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises' Approaches and Attitudes to Planning

Small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs) dominate New Zealand's tourism industry. They are important vehicles of economic development in rural areas and have a sizeable influence upon a tourist's experience. Literature has reported that SMTEs do not plan strategically, have an under-appreciation of planning and are disinclined to seek external planning assistance, despite planning being purported as a way that could help overcome their inherent difficulties. This points to a need to explore and understand the perceptions and approaches owner-managers have of planning. Based upon semi-structured interviews of owner-managers, this paper reveals that most operators are informal and ‘back of the envelope’ planners, with their experience allowing intuitive decisions instead. Considerable operational involvement results in a need for owner-managers to prioritize their time, and documenting plans is not considered necessary. Despite these findings, owner-managers reported that they value planning. This paper provides insight into the experiences of owner-managers from a peripheral, rural area of New Zealand and argues that business owners are indeed strategic planners, but are not recognized as such because they do not have the typical corporate or business strategies commonly prescribed in the management literature. Rather, they adopt unique lifestyle strategies such as the purposeful avoidance of business growth. Considering their informal planning methods, it is more pertinent to describe SMTEs as having ‘strategic intent’. The owner-managers' vision and intent are strategic, albeit unique, as they are driven by lifestyle motivations.

Ecotourism SMTEs Opportunities in Northern Thailand: A Solution to Community Development and Resource Conservation

SMEs have become a core component of Thailand's economic development strategies, including tourism initiatives. Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs), with an emphasis on ecotourism and community-based tourism, play a vital role in rural and regional transformation, as these places change from primary to tertiary-industry-based economies. In northern Thailand in particular, a growing number of indigenous communities have been turning to ecotourism as an alternative to expanding their commercial agriculture. However, while tourism has become an important source for generating economic benefits of foreign exchange income, employment, government revenues, private sector growth and infrastructure development, the tourism product in most destinations has begun to deteriorate both culturally and environmentally. It also caused conflict of interests among stakeholders, as over 70 per cent of revenues are in the hands of private entrepreneurs. This begs the question of how to operate tourism that can really be a sustainable solution to the development of initiatives in the region. With a view to answering this question, this paper presents the perceived impacts of ecotourism on host destinations in northern Thailand and identifies how to implement ecotourism successfully by combining the philosophy of ecotourism with the commercial presence of SMTEs in a destination.

Tourism ‘non-entrepreneurship’ inperipheral destinations: a case study of small and medium tourismenterprises on Bornholm, Denmark

Geographers have increasingly criticized the absence oftheoretical rigour characterizing ­studies of the tourismproduction system. Tourism entrepreneurship is one related researcharea that has not received the level of attention it deserves. Additionally,the role that innovation plays in small and medium tourism enterprises(SMTEs) has not been examined in depth. This paper focuses on astudy of entrepreneurial activity among SMTEs in a peripheral region,namely the Danish island of Bornholm. The study is based on thirtyin-depth, non-random, structured interviews with owners of tourism-relatedenterprises. An examination of the key characteristics of theseSMTEs provides evidence that most can be described as ‘gap-fillers’, companiesoperated by so-called ‘constrained’ or ‘non-entrepreneurs’, whichdo not display evidence of having adopted significant product or processinnovations. Among the key ­barriers to innovation identifiedare the extreme seasonality plaguing the island’s touristindustry and, related to this, the uncompetitive nature of the existingtourist industry.

RICIRMS as a strategic tool for small and medium tourism enterprises

The small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs) which dominate the international tourism market face difficulties in gaining access to CRSs because of their size/structural/functional problems. Following a brief analysis of SMTEs based on research undertaken at the Aegean Islands, Greece, it is proposed that regional Integrated computer information reservation management systems (RICIRMSs) can be utilized as a strategic tool for the development of both the SMTE and the destination. Managed by a Regional Tourism Committee, the RICIRMS should attempt to maximize the long-term business revenues for the SMTEs of the area, satisfy the needs of the more demanding tourist and Increase the benefits of tourism for the local area. Furthermore, RICIRMSs may be utilized to integrate the tourism products of the destination diagonally and also to force SMTEs to cooperate with each other in order to achieve economies of scope, synergies and system gains. It is concluded that SMTEs and destinations which do not develop RICIRMSs may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage as they will be unable to satisfy the needs of tourism demand and supply for the next century.