The tourism and hospitality industry in most destinations is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including small hotels, guesthouses, cafes and restaurants. While a destination may be seen by potential customers as a coordinated set of places to say and things to do, therein lies a dilemma destinations may be much less coordinated than desirable, which may strongly influence a customers’s image of a destination. The heterogeneity of tourism SME business motivation poses enormous challenges to developing a coherent destination, enhancing destination service quality and standards and sustaining destination competitiveness. Across destinations the presence and influence of large international chains vary, and yet the backbone of the tourism industry comprises a plethora of private sector small and medium sized enterprises dominated by micro-businesses, often employing fewer than ten people. While the significance of small firms in delivering a substantial part of the total tourism output is an established feature of the tourism industry, small firms present particular challenges to destination managers for a variety of reasons. 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.
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