An empirical approach of small and medium tourist entrepreneurship in Alexandria : characteristics and obstacles

Abstract EN

Tourism exists as a powerful economic force in the support of local communities and global markets.

At present, tourism activities comprise one of the world’s largest industries, and the world’s largest service sector industry with over three trillion dollars in revenues produced.

One of the most conspicuous developments in tourism policy internationally over the past two decades has been the growth of interest in small businesses.

They have been seen by policy-makers as the economic lifeblood of the sector.

Small& medium business ,as Stakeholders need resources, incentives and advice on how to respond to challenges and new opportunities to shift the emphasis towards implementing strategies that emerge from successful initiatives.

This research aims to extend knowledge pertaining to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in general within the context of the tourism mdustry, and to establish a richer understanding relative to major factors affecting the development of small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs) travel agents m Egypt.

And try to provide a significant result on entrepreneurship issues in Alexandria.

The main objective of this study is to examine the characteristics and problems SMTEs.

In a pilot research project, exploratoiy in-depth interviews were conducted with owner-managers of SME travel agencies.

The findings indicate that bemg small in size and simple structure, short period of time in business operation, lack of management experience and market recognition have formed the major characteristics of these SMEs.

Furthermore, they are facing an increasingly competitive environment and their sustainability is being tlyeatened by a continuously decreasing market share and reducing profit levels.

SME travel agents have a very short development history in Egypt and very little is known about the nature of tlie SMTEs.

This study intends to provide enhanced understanding of the SMTEs which can serve as the base for future studv.