Tourism Entrepreneurship
Concept of Tourism Entrepreneurship
Tourism may be defined as the activities, services, and industries that deliver a travel experience. It comprises transportation, accommodation, eating and drinking establishments, retail shops, entertainment businesses, and other hospitality services provided to individuals or groups traveling away from home. Tourism has been an important activity for every nation because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational, economic sectors, and international relations.
Entrepreneurship involves purposeful and systematic innovation for the exploration of opportunity. For exploitation of opportunity, resources are acquired and managed.
Tourism entrepreneurship refers to the activities designed for the effective and profitable interaction of demand for and supply of tourism products; at the same time assuring competitive professionalism and gainful socio-economic status. It includes all sorts of activities involved in the creation and operation of a legal tourism enterprise. A legal tourism enterprise excludes all forms of illegal activities.
With the world’s highest mountain range, the Himalayas, and 8 of the 10 highest peaks in the world, Nepal has long been popular among mountaineers, trekkers, and adventure seekers. It offers beautiful lakes, steep rivers and gorges, unique wildlife, historic monuments, impressive fine arts, significant religious sites, and exotic cultures attracting a wide array of travelers for a variety of reasons. Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, and Pashupatinath, and other Hindu pilgrimage sites are the main attractions for people following Buddhism and Hinduism.
Types of Tourism Entrepreneurship
Tourism entrepreneurship takes various forms. They are mentioned below.
1. Travel agents:
Travel agents provide information to the people for various travel destinations. They also provide advice to tourists about available holiday packages. They basically sell travel-associated products such as foreign exchange, rental, insurance, etc.
2. Tour operators:
They provide holiday packages. They need significant marketing experience, as well as experience in the finance, customer service, and hospitality industries. Tour operators must have good communication skills. They organize tours for holidays or historic places.
3. Lodging and catering service providers:
They provide accommodations to tourists. They may be marketed through a tour operator or individually. They also provide catering services to tourists.
4. Transport operators:
They provide formal transport services to the tourists. They could be airlines, cruise mines, rentals, etc.
5. Information and guiding:
They are basically involved in providing information to the tourists. They include a number of service providers such as insurance, creational communication, banking services, ticketing agents, and holiday sellers.
6. Attractions:
It involves the establishment of attractions for tourists and develops particular tourism locations. It includes the creation and management of museums, parts, galleries, heritage buildings, etc.
Opportunities in Tourism Entrepreneurship
The following are some of the opportunities in tourism entrepreneurship in Nepal
- There are opportunities in developing tourism infras&ucwre (hotels, restaurants, roads, airports, etc):
- There is also great potential for expanding the – market for meetings, international conferences, and events (MICE).
- Plans to upgrade the current international airport are underway which will increase the tourist traffic significantly.
- The expansion of existing tourism products and the introduction of new and innovative products have the potential to attract different types of tourists and extend their average length of stay.
Problems of Tourism Entrepreneurship
Tourism entrepreneurship has enormous potentiality in Nepal. Its rich biodiversity and cultural heritage provide a number of opportunities to tourism entrepreneurs in Nepal. However, there are a number of problems with tourism entrepreneurship. They are discussed below.
1. Lack of proper infrastructures:
Nepal is a beautiful country due to its richness in natural sceneries, historical and religious sites, arts, architecture, and cultures. Nepal can take advantage of the tourism sector through its uniqueness. However, infrastructural problems have remained as one of the main hurdles in tourism development in Nepal. Lack of transportation and communication facilities have adversely affected tourism entrepreneurship in Nepal.
2. Lack of conservation of cultural and religious sites:
Nepal has many cultural and religious sites. Some of them are enlisted in the World Heritage List. They are the major source of attraction, However, they lack proper conservation which is hampering tourism entrepreneurship in Nepal.
3. Lack of tourism centers:
Tourists need information that is provided to them through information centers. However, Nepal lacks such centers. It has negatively affected tourist arrival in Nepal. Hence, it has adversely affected tourism entrepreneurship in Nepal.
4. Lack of publicity:
Publicity at the national as well as the international level is one of the factors of the development of the tourism sector in the country. Nepal has not been able to publicize its tourism in an expected way. It has discouraged tourism development in Nepal.
5. Lack of security:
Tourists visit different places for the sake of entertainment and amusement. In such a situation, they want to be secure. The situation of tourism security is not found in a satisfactory state in Nepal. It has a negative impact on tourism entrepreneurship in Nepal.
6. Political instability and unrest:
The politics in Nepal has been unstable Nepal since long ago. It has resulted in strikes, banda, political movements, etc. All these activities have adversely affected tourism development in Nepal.
Factors Affecting Tourism Entrepreneurship
Tourism entrepreneurship has become one of the important drives Of economic development. There are different factors that affect tourism entrepreneurship. They are;
1. Participation of the private sector:
The participation of the private sector is important for the development and diversification of tourism products. Likewise, the government should involve in infrastructure development and play the role of coordinator and motivate for the growth of the travel and tourism industries.
2. Development of tourism infrastructures and facilities:
For the development of the tourism sector, tourism infrastructure and facilities should be developed. Priority should be given to developing new tourist destinations, particularly in the rural areas.
3. Promotion of religious tourism:
Improvement of popular religious tourism sites promotes religious tourism which further affects tourism entrepreneurship positively.
4. Focus on adventure tourism:
More tourists may be attracted by focusing on adventure tourism. It creates a number of opportunities for tourism entrepreneurs.
5. Security:
Tourist service and facilities should be developed to make places secure for tourists.
6. Encouragement to local investment:
If there is institutional encouragement to local investment, it promotes tourism entrepreneurship.
7. Transport and communication facility:
Availability of transport and communication facilities helps to carry out tourism-related activities smoothly and efficiently. It eventually promotes tourism entrepreneurship.
8. Diversification:
Tourism should be diversified to rural areas. It improves employment opportunities, foreign currency earnings, growth of national income, and regional imbalances. Diversification of tourism activities supports tourism entrepreneurship.
9. Promotion of environment:
If natural, cultural, and human environments of the nation are promoted, it helps to develop and expand tourism entrepreneurship.
