rls263 12. entrepreneurship

girl bye

entrepreneurship

the process of identifying, developing, and exploiting opportunities to create and grow a business

drucker’s perspective on entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship emerges from changes in values, perceptions, demographics, and education.

casson’s perspective on entrepreneurship

Decision-making is complex → entrepreneurship cannot be explained by simple economic models.

medlik’s perspective on entrepreneurship

Entrepreneur = person who makes decisions, controls the venture, and bears risk.

youell’s perspective on entrepreneurship

Entrepreneur = one who takes risks, accepts challenges, and undertakes ventures without guarantees.

entrepreneurship in tourism

• Tourism is a dynamic, fast-changing service sector → requires constant innovation to meet evolving consumer demand.

• Entrepreneurship in tourism means:

  • Creating new experiences, services, or products.

    • tourists love new experiences so entrepreneurs have tocreate lots of packages!

  • Driving growth, innovation, and competitiveness.

    • if you arent competitive you will lose and ur tourism will not be sustainable

  • Shaping how businesses interact with customers. —> it is about the CUSTOMER and what they want

examples of entrepreneurship in tourism

• Historic pioneers: Thomas Cook (package holidays), Richard Branson (Virgin), Michael O’Leary (Ryanair).

• Digital disruptors: Airbnb, Uber, EasyJet → transformed tourism supply & demand through technology.

Entrepreneurship…

powers growth and innovation, making tourism more competitive, diverse, and consumer-focused.

characteristics / core traits of entrepreneurship (McMullan & Long, 1990; Casson, 1982)

• Creativity & Innovation – generating and applying new ideas.

• Risk-taking & Uncertainty – willingness to take chances without guaranteed success.

• Managerial & Business Skills – ability to organize, delegate, and manage resources.

innovation

creating something new or improving existing products, processes, or systems to stay competitive (Peters & Pikkemaat, 2005).

• In tourism, innovation = continuous improvement of the visitor experience.

innovation, tourism, and creativity 

• Tourism is made up of many small businesses that depend heavily on people (labour-intensive). This often leads to low productivity and makes it hard to stay competitive.

• Without innovation, destinations risk stagnation or decline in their development cycle (e.g., old seaside resorts losing appeal).

Innovation should not just be…

a one-time idea — it needs to be a regular, step-by-step process built into everyday business.

types of innovation

• product

• process

• market

• logistics

• institutional

product innovation

new/improved services (e.g. airline loyalty programs).

process innovation

better operations (e.g. ICT booking systems, Fast Pass).

market innovation

new ways to reach customers (e.g. internet, apps, AI and traditional in person ways).

logistics innovation

supply chain improvements (e.g. farm-to-restaurant, wine tourism).

institutional innovation

the process of creating or significantly improving the rules, structures, or systems that govern how organizations, industries, or societies function.

• policy/regulation-driven (e.g. aviation deregulation).

travel and tourism entrepreneurs

• Brian Souter & Ann Gloag – rail and coach operations.

• Richard Branson – Virgin brand in airlines and rail.

• Harry Goodman (Intasun), Freddy Laker (Skytrain), Vic Fatah (SunMed/Inspirations) – pioneers in UK tour operations.

• Vladimir Raitz – often credited with creating the mass package holiday market (1950).

Why is entrepreneurship important in tourism?

Drives growth, innovation, competitiveness, and adapts to changing consumer demand.

How do innovation and creativity shape tourism businesses?

Through new products, processes, markets, logistics, and institutional changes → ensuring continuous improvement and destination competitiveness.

takeaways of entrepreneurship

It fuels growth, creativity, and transformation in tourism, but success requires…

• innovation

  • creating new products that are needed and improving current ones in order to say competitive

• resilience

  • not quitting or giving up if things do not go your way at first

• adaptability

  • being able to make changes and to go with the flow of the market/consumer needsin order to stay afloat