Small Firms in Tourism International Perspectives

This book provides a varied collection of recent research relating to small businesses in tourism. In doing so it reflects the eclecticism of interest and method associated with this under-researched and under-theorised area of investigation. Topics range from the potential contribution of small firms to achieving social or economic goals to understanding more about business performance and growth. As is common in tourism research, disciplinary boundaries are routinely transgressed in the interests of gaining greater illumination. Insights from a variety of countries are offered, sometimes as a result of trans-national collaboration initiated specifically for this book.
Shows the eclecticism of interest and method associated with this under-researched and under-theorised area

International perspectives on small firms in tourism: a synthesis (R. Thomas). Tourism, small firm development and empowerment in post-apartheid South Africa (C.M. Rogerson). Factors affecting small firms in tourism: a Ghanaian perspective (W.C. Gartner). Government assistance for tourism SMEs; from theory to practice (S. Wanhill). Short-run output and employment effects arising from assistance to tourism SMEs: evidence from Israel (A. Fleischer, D. Felsenstein). Risky lifestyles? Entrepreneurial characteristics of the New Zealand bed and breakfast sector (C.M. Hall, K. Rusher). From lifestyle consumption to lifestyle production: changing patterns of tourism entrepreneurship (G. Shaw, A.M. Williams). Success and growth in rural tourism micro-businesses in Finland: financial or life-style objectives? (R. Komppula). The interaction of community and small tourism businesses in rural New Zealand (D. Keen). Whale watching: the roles of small firms in the evolution of a new Australian niche market (N. Scott, E. Laws). Small firms and wine and food tourism in New Zealand: issues of collaboration, clusters and lifestyles (C.M Hall). Quality homes, quality people: the challenge of quality grading and assurance in small accommodation enterprises (P.A. Lynch, H. Tucker). Overcoming the green gap: improving the environmental performance of small tourism firms in Western Australia (M. Schaper, J. Carlsen). Small firms and the principles of sustainable tourism: the case of cycle tourism (N.D. Morpeth). Accommodating the spiritual tourist; the case of religious retreat houses (M. Shackley). Small firm performance in the context of agent and structure: a cross-cultural comparison in the tourist accommodation sector (A. Morrison, R.M. Teixeira). Coping with resource scarcity: the experience of UK tourism SMEs (M.M. Augustyn). Strategic and structural variables in internationalisation: the case of Swiss tourism SMEs (A. Mungall, C. Johnson) Small tourism firms in e-Europe: definitional, conceptual and contextual considerations (H. Matlay).

RHODRI THOMAS