BUSINESS MODEL FRAMEWORK FOR TRANSFORMATIVE TOURISM STARTUPS

Abstract

This exploratory study seeks to design a service logic business model framework for novice entrepreneurs launching startups in the transformational tourist clusters considering the key stakeholders' interests and understanding the interests of those tourism customers seeking „conscious travel‟ to reinvent themselves and the world around them. The research combines phenomenographical and constructive approaches. Based on thematic content analysis of in-depth interviews with 12 entrepreneurs, 5 host providers of tourism services, and 30 travelers, as well as 7 co-creative workshops, we argue that a three-dimensional perspective on transformative tourism services suits the tasks of value co-creation in a collaborative peer-to-peer cluster-type networks. The key stakeholders in this framework are a service provider (startup), a host partner at the destination and local tourist clusters (“salt of the earth”), and a target customer. The proposed business model framework will enable novice transformative tourism entrepreneurs to experiment with finding a profitable business model in a lean format. The article also examines the impact of digital travel services on the development of the tourism industry.

Keywords

• business model
• transformative tourism
• creative tourism
• tourism startups
• service logic
• tourism clusters
• innovative networks
• digital travel services