The lone digital tourism entrepreneur: Knowledge acquisition and collaborative transfer

Abstract

This paper addresses calls for more detailed studies of small tourism enterprises. Researchers report a lack of adoption and ineffective utilisation of digital technologies in smaller tourism businesses. The study focuses on two university-facilitated projects of digital marketing adoption and utilisation by 53 small and medium sized tourism businesses in the South of England. The framework for this study was driven by Modes of Knowledge Transference and Technology-In-Practice. The findings describe peer-to-peer knowledge acquisition and sharing that take place in university-led projects and suggests that a combination of Mode 1 and Mode 2 knowledge helps entrepreneurs to advance their digital marketing knowledge. Peer-to-peer clusters are an effective means of placing digital marketing knowledge and technology in the context of small and medium tourism business practice. The paper provides implications for destination marketing organisations and policymakers and suggestions for future avenues of research are offered.