What motivates nascent entrepreneurs to establish tourism ventures?

Abstract

Tourism enterprises represent a substantial percentage of the GDP in most countries. They employ a significant number of people and can be the mainstay industry for many regional communities by attracting visitors – tourists –to venture to such locations and who, in the process, inject money into local economies. Thus, understanding how to make tourism enterprises more sustainable and what attracts entrepreneurs to establish tourism enterprises is crucial from an economic perspective. Within this context, this research examines what motivates tourism entrepreneurs to establish tourism enterprises. It examines two groups – nascent tourism entrepreneurs and nascent non-tourism entrepreneurs – to better understand what motivates them to establish their enterprises. It also examines to what extent underlying motivations are related to entrepreneurial self-efficacy and the connectedness between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions.