RURAL TOURISM AND ENTERPRISE: Management, Marketing and Sustainability

Аннотация

This book is written in recognition of the sheer scale of entrepreneurship which exists within tourism, and the need for the industry in the widest sense to support entrepreneurs. However, it is not a simple solution, and the nature of tourism entrepreneurship, and rural entrepreneurship in general is heavily influenced by the geographical context in which it takes place. Thus far in the introduction, examples which have been given are based upon individual entrepreneurs and organized attempts by DMOs to support and develop the tourism industry. Indeed, in Europe in particular, funding is made available for the development of tourism. There are numerous examples globally, however, of entrepreneurship being embedded within local communities – entrepreneurial communities which strive to develop tourism with little governmental support or formalized DMO arrangements. Often such attempts at tourism development are borne out of a response to a natural disaster or catastrophe which hits at the very heart of the tourism industry. After the Indonesian Tsunami in 2005 communities came together to grow and develop tourism – in part to address the need for redevelopment, but also to attract tourists to visit the area and to support local communities in the restoration of their homes and neighbourhoods.