Tourism and Entrepreneurship: A South African Literature Review

Abstract

This study’s main objective was to investigate connections that might exist between entrepreneurship and tourism. The importance of entrepreneurs and new company start-ups in the tourism sector for innovation and value creation is reflected in the increased focus given to entrepreneurship in tourism research. Despite this, the literature on tourism entrepreneurship is still fragmented regardless of its growth. This article, therefore, investigated research articles on entrepreneurship and tourism published in the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) accredited journals, Scopus, IBSS, Norwegian, DOAJ, and WoS (ISI) between 2000 and 2022 in South Africa. The research articles were analysed using bibliometric techniques based on established criteria. The study found 19 research articles about tourism and entrepreneurship published in various journals whose focus was South Africa. Results from this study revealed that published research about entrepreneurship and tourism in South Africa had the following themes/variables: family business, social entrepreneurship, women/female entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship policies, tourism entrepreneurship, small, medium, and micro enterprises, and corporate entrepreneurship amongst others. The survey also discovered that since the year 2000, knowledge output in the tourism and entrepreneurial field has increased. This study is anticipated to contribute to relevant literature and serve as a foundation for further studies in this area by offering a more in-depth look at the subject of entrepreneurship and tourism.

Keywords

• entrepreneurship
• tourism
• entrepreneurs
• small and medium enterprises
• tourism sector