Determinants of the Propensity for Innovation among Entrepreneurs in the Tourism Industry

Abstract: Tourism's increasing share of Gross Domestic Product throughout the world, its impact on employment and its continuous growth justifies the interest it raises amongst entrepreneurs and public authorities. However, this growth coexists with intense competition; as a result of which, tourism companies must continuously innovate in order to survive and grow. This is evident in the diversification of tourism products and destinations, the improvement of business processes and the incorporation of new technologies for intermediation, amongst other examples. This paper expounds on the factors that explain the propensity for innovation amongst tourism entrepreneurs and it may help governments to promote innovation that is based on those determining factors. The hypotheses are tested using a logistic regression on 699 international tourism entrepreneurs, taken from the 2014 Global Adult Population Survey of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project. The propensity for innovation amongst tourism entrepreneurs has a statistically significant relationship to gender, age, level of education and informal investments in previous businesses.