Jack Carlsen

Characteristics and goals of family and owner-operated businesses in the rural tourism and hospitality sectors

Abstract This research examines goals pertaining to start-up, operations, the family, and ultimate disposition of the enterprise by family and owner-operated businesses in the rural tourism and hospitality sectors. The sample is from a survey in rural Western Australia. A large majority of respondents were from middle-aged couples, new to the business, with strong motivation to live and work in the countryside. Lifestyle and family-related goals were predominant, but there was also recognition that the business had to be profitable. Most respondents were uncertain about the ultimate disposition of their business; only about one-third had definite succession plans to involve children or other family members. Implications are drawn for business and destination development.

The Family Business in Tourism and Hospitality

The family business is a global phenomenon, and is particularly prominent in tourism and hospitality. In many cases, the family business was developed for the purpose of facilitating personal and family goals. For example, in rural areas, farmers can use tourism as a way to generate additional income, thereby remaining in the area and retaining family property. Running a bed and breakfast establishment is a way to mix family and work. Lifestyle, locational and autonomy motives are the norm, but profit and growth-oriented entrepreneurs are also found within family businesses. This book is the first academic treatment of family business issues within the tourism and hospitality industry. It provides comprehensive assessment of ownership, management and family-related concerns across the entire business and family life cycle. Many new international case studies of real family businesses are used to illustrate key points. The book will be of significant interest to researchers and students in tourism and hospitality, small business and entrepreneurship studies, as well as to owners and potential investors in family businesses.

Service Quality Evaluation at Events through Service Mapping

Service mapping is described and illustrated in the context of evaluating and improving service quality at special events. Results of participant observation at the 1998 Margaret River Masters surfing event in Western Australia are combined with concurrent visitor survey data and direct observations to generate recommendations for improving its management. Conclusions are drawn on the utility and application of the service-mapping technique for events and on the nature of service quality at events.

The Environmental Attitudes and Practices of Family Businesses in the Rural Tourism and Hospitality Sectors

This paper examines the environmental goals of rural, family owned/operated tourism business with a view to evaluating their conservation ethic and commitment to sustainable tourism. From a survey of 198 family businesses in Western Australia, it was determined that about half of them had implemented a range of sustainable management practices. Future research needs are identified, and management ideas are suggested which could encourage the adoption of sustainable tourism practices in rural family businesses.

A systems approach to island tourism destination management

Tourism destination management is an increasingly competitive and complex business involving the coordination of economic, social and geographic elements within a designated tourist area. Traditional research in tourism destination management has tended to use a reductionist approach in order to monitor certain flow variables (visitor numbers, expenditure) or to measure discrete relationships between variables (tourist expenditure and employment, visitor numbers and social impacts). The limitations of this approach in research are now becoming apparent, as tourism development impinges on many elements within a destination, and a new approach to research in tourism destination management is needed. This paper will provide an overview of systems approaches to tourism destination planning and management and describe a systems research approach to island tourism destination management. A systems approach to tourism management in small island tourist destinations (less than one million population) using soft systems methodology (SSM) is discussed. It is envisaged that SSM would best be applied to management of island tourism destinations because it can accommodate social and environmental processes, as well as the economic factors that have been the foci of previous research. Furthermore, it is argued that the tourism system is an open system in that it responds to changes in social, natural and economic factors and is evolving toward an increasing state of complexity. Copyright

Lifestyle Oriented Small Tourism Firms

Small tourism firms in attractive tourism destinations are often generically described as ‘lifestyle’ oriented. A discourse on what the prefix ‘lifestyle’ means, when attached to small tourism firms in different economic and social contexts has been developing for a decade now, reaching a point of complexity and contradiction. In order to explore this ubiquitous, yet nebulous term, the relevant literature and associated discourse is reviewed with the aim of understanding the motives, meanings, values and contexts of these lifestyle oriented small tourism (LOST) firms. It is concluded that there are many deficiencies in both the conceptualization as well as the content of current research in this increasingly important area. A multi-disciplinary and systemic model for understanding the interactions and interdependencies of the different dimensions of LOST firms is presented.

Regional Wine Tourism: A Plan of Development for Western Australia

Wine tourism is attracting considerable attention in Australia and a number of states have embarked on vigorous wine tourism development programmes to bolster the perceived economic benefits of tourism (Hall, Johnson & Mitchell 2000). This paper simply describes the process by which a wine tourism strategy was prepared for the state of Western Australia (WA). The strategy is one of the first to be prepared and it is hoped that it can be used as an exemplar for others which will no doubt follow. The strategy was prepared in 1999, refined in 2000 and will be released in 2001. Wine and tourism are two Australian success stories (Macionis and Cambourne 2000) and the WA wine tourism strategy charts an exciting future for the development of a synthesis of these two great industries. The outstanding ‘value added’ element of the wine tourism industry fosters job creation, stimulates local businesses, especially in regional areas, and enhances both wine exports and international tourism. The broad ranging industry encompassing a range of industries demands a government approach to its future growth. Such synergy provides an exceptional opportunity for the wine and tourism industries to capitalize on the State s existing wine tourism products as well as the growing demand for wine tourism. The WA strategy was developed in accord with the Australian National Wine Tourism Strategy and covered a range of issues. These include raising the awareness and understanding of the value added benefit of tourism to the wine industry; establishing an industry standard for wine tourism outlets and facilities; increasing the skill level of employees in the wine tourism industry; understanding links between wine, food and the Australian lifestyle; and identifying the impediments to the development of wine tourism in Western Australia. This paper provides an overview of the background, process and outcomes of the draft strategy.

Quality issues for the family business

This chapter provides an overview of quality issues within family businesses, including business/product quality, service quality, and impacts on destination quality and competitiveness. Case studies of quality management in family tourism businesses are taken from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, demonstrating that many family businesses do stress quality of business, product and service.

Success in Hosted Accommodation: does Owner Age Matter?

Recent studies of mature entrepreneurs in Europe, the UK, and North America suggest that, contrary to popular perception, the growing number of small businesses created and operated by mature entrepreneurs have a longer life span and are generally more successful. The literature primarily attributes this perceived success to various age-related advantages, such as the ability to accrue greater commercial experience, more personal networks and experience, and greater personal financial resources that can be used to fund the venture. In order to investigate the age-related success of small tourism businesses, this study analyzes 167 responses from a survey of 655 hosted accommodation owneroperators in Western Australia. The relative success of each business venture was evaluated using a number of criteria: longevity of the enterprise, consumer demand (measured via occupancy rate), and two measures of self-perceived levels of success. The results show that while businesses operated by mature entrepreneurs have a longer life span, every other indicator of success�both objective and subjective�suggests that these owner-operators are actually less successful than expected. These results contradict the emerging body of evidence elsewhere, and suggest that firms run by older entrepreneurs may in fact be more marginal than has previously been supposed.