Dr Albert Kimbu

We integrate approaches to the study of contexts in entrepreneurship and innovation to develop and apply a theoretical framework for analyzing how industry context influence entrepreneurial innovations in small and medium-sized hotels (SMSHs). Industry context includes the sectors, structures and stakeholder groups that constitute an industry, all of which affects the scope for entrepreneurial entry, the nature of entrepreneurial innovations (new products, services, methods or organization), and the strategies that owners/managers adopt to sequence their market entry choices and post-entry decisions (Garud, Gehman & Giuliani, 2014). The framework argues that industry context can both be an asset (opportunities) and a liability (challenges and risks) (Welter 2011) to entrepreneurial innovations by SMSHs in resource-scarce emerging destinations, such as those in Africa.

Empirically, our research setting is African economies, where it has been suggested that within the hospitality and tourism (H&T) industry, the competitive power of multinational hotel chains threatens the long-term survival of SMSHs (Mohammad, 2016; Sharma & Upneja, 2005), with implications for tourism development (Kimbu & Ngoasong, 2013). Empirical data was collected through in-depth qualitative interviews with owners and/or managers of six SMSHs in Kenya (02), Cameroon (02) and Ghana (02). The data was complemented by participant observation (authors stayed in each hotel for five days, using restaurants and facilities, holding informal discussions with staff and visitors) and informal interviews with senior representatives of related industry associations and government ministries. The selection of SMSHs was based on three criteria: 1) independent (i.e. not belonging to a hotel chain), 2) legal status as a limited company, and 3) having less than 120 rooms (e.g. Ahmad, 2015; Chaves et al., 2012; Sharma & Upneja, 2005). The data was content-analyzed to uncover the comparative dimensions of the H&T industry context across the three countries and the associated contextual influences on SMSHs, with a focus on entrepreneurial innovation.

The findings reveal the circumstances under which the H&T context can be an asset and/or a liability for entrepreneurs seeking to create new SMSHs and for established owner-managers seeking new methods of organizing and sustaining the operations of their SMSHs. The findings are further presented in a revised theoretical framework that can b

Introduction

Embeddedness especially in developing countries triggers opportunities for networking and thereby has the potential of enabling women entrepreneurs to access resources for development (Le & Nguyen, 2009) which may facilitate subsequent business creation and thus their empowerment (Datta & Gailey, 2012; Amine & Staub, 2009). However, while embeddedness may empower women entrepreneurs, it may also lock them into a network (Mair & Marti, 2006) that disempowers their ability to maximize the value creation potential of their enterprises thereby reducing their societal impacts.

The purpose of this paper which is a work in progress is to empirically explore how social embeddedness empowers and/or disempowers women entrepreneurs in the hospitality and tourism industry in an African country context. We address two key questions: To what extent does social embeddedness facilitate the (dis)empowerment of women (social) entrepreneurs? In what ways does empowerment affect women entrepreneurs and shape their actions as they sought to create and operate H&T enterprises with an embedded social value? To answer these questions we integrate concepts from social entrepreneurship, empowerment and social embeddedness literature (e.g. Duffy et al., 2015; Di Domenico et al, 2010; Zahra et al., 2009) in the context of the role of women as owner-managers of small tourism (social) enterprises in base-of-the-pyramid emerging markets.

Methods & potential contribution to impact: Through thematic content analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews with women entrepreneurs of micro and small tourism firms (STFs) (18), related government (03), social welfare and community development agencies and NGOs (03) in Cameroon, we analyze the relationship between embeddedness and women (dis)empowerment from the perspective of women entrepreneurs who have experienced it. In so doing, we not only illuminate how and why embeddedness (dis)empowers women entrepreneurs and their actions and decisions but more importantly we develop a framework within which social embeddedness if well-articulated can serve as a powerful tool in unlocking the potentials and improving the standard of living of many women in developing country destinations.

Findings & Discussion: This is a work in progress and there are no substantial findings yet. However, we will have some findings to present and discuss by the time of the conference.

To achieve this goal a sequential mixed-methods approach in two stages (qualitative -> QUANTITIVE) was used to research the population of students at the University of Surrey. Consequently, the study began with a series of 14 semi-structured interviews (1st stage), in order to explore the phenomenon in Guildford and provide the context for the framework. The findings from the first stage, together with further review of the literature led to including four main constructs in the model. These are: hosts? destination knowledge, destination image, motivation to host and visitors? experience. The second stage consisted of a survey completed by 458 groups of hosts and their visitors that measured these constructs and tested the model using Structure Equation Model (SEM).

The results suggest the model fits well with the data providing insights about the relationships between the constructs. For example, it was found that there is a virtuous circle of interactions between the host?s constructs and that destination image could be transferred from residents to visitors as generally assumed in literature. Overall, the model together with its interpretation and theoretical support provides the first conceptual framework for the understanding of the way hosts affect their visitors? experience. These findings aid in the understanding of the internal dynamics of the VFR phenomenon filling a crucial gap in literature and helping Destination Marketing Organizations to better manage the VFR market through their local residents (the hosts).

Tourism is currently growing faster in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and in many other developing
regions compared to the rest of the world. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates
that in absolute terms there were 63 million international tourist arrivals in SSA for the year
ending 2017 ? a 9% growth rate. However, this is only 5% of global international tourist arrivals
with the share of receipts for SSA at 3% (World Tourism Organization [UNWTO], 2018). While
tourism in SSA has long been touted as a potential vehicle for economic growth, job creation
and poverty reduction (Novelli, 2015), the outcome has been inconsistent and implications at
the local level questionable (Adu-Ampong, 2017, 2018a; Mbaiwa, 2005; Kimbu & Ngoasong,
2013). Nonetheless, the growing influence of the tourism sector in SSA calls for careful consideration
of the past, present and future planning and policy contexts through which
tourism can be leveraged to achieve sustainable outcomes.

This Special Issue on Sustainability in tourism policy and planning in Sub-Saharan Africa:
past, present and future, reassesses the process of tourism policy and planning in SSA over the
years. This is set against the wider context of the UNWTO having declared 2017 as the International
Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and the new Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) having three of the seventeen goals making an explicit reference to tourism in
goal 8: economic growth and employment, goal 12: sustainable consumption and production,
and goal 14: conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable
development (United Nations, 2016). The tourism sector is ergo being called upon to explicitly
integrate sustainability in its economic, social and environmental dimensions than has
been done previously. This Special Issue therefore considers how the increasing focus on sustainability
in policy discourses are shaping current and future tourism policy and planning in
the SSA context. The papers are drawn from across all the different sub-regions of sub-
Saharan Africa and provide a critical (re)examination of the role of tourism policies, plans
and practices in achieving sustainable development in SSA.

Young independent Chinese travellers are increasingly visiting Pai, a small town in northern Thailand, in part influenced by the popularity of the 2009 Thai movie ?Pai in Love?. Drawing upon participant observation and in-depth interviews of Chinese travellers and Thai hosts, the findings reveal that tourist photography is central to Chinese tourism in Pai, with many performances revolving around the creation of online self-identities of prosperity and globalisation, love and alternative social identities. Most host performances were restricted to host-guest service encounters and were often habitual, highly scripted and shaped by cultural values. Gaze wise, many Chinese gazes were shallow and highly influenced by media and cinematic representations of Thailand. In contrast, Thai professional host gazes were often rigorous and penetrating, and for those hosts who had no real meaningful contact with tourists, highly influenced by their corporeal proximity to the embodied actions of Chinese travellers.

This is the first study to consider both performing and gazing alongside each other, and along with consideration of affordances, provides new insights into young Chinese tourism consumption, particularly the extent to which it is influenced by social media, online guides and place ?myths?. This study also attempts to challenge some of the ethnocentric basis of tourism theory by seeking to challenge some of the modernist and Western assumptions that still theoretically dominate.