Social Entrepreneurship and Tourism

Entrepreneurship is considered by some academics as an overlooked area of study in tourism (Koh & Hatten, 2002). The role of social entrepreneurship in the tourism system is a relatively new field of study. To date, the few articles that specifically address social entrepreneurism have focused on case studies of specific social enterprises or social entrepreneurs (Bellows, 2012; Sloan, Legrand, & Simons- Kaufmann, 2014). While little research has addressed social entrepreneurs in the realm of tourism, many studies address the topic implicitly. For example, Su, Wang, and Wen (2013) examined the importance of socially-concerned entrepreneurial behavior in destination development. Tourism entrepreneurship has been identified as a means of eliminating or ameliorating some social issues such as poverty (Truong, 2013), in some locations. Community-based tourism and rural tourism studies frequently also include issues of new business development with concern for community, social, and environmental issues.