Purpose
This paper aims to bridge micro-entrepreneurship, sharing economy and community-based tourism (CBT) literature by analyzing the specific ways in which technological platforms mitigate risks and create opportunities that benefit local communities.
Design/methodology/approach
Six online platforms (two local and four international) used by tourism micro-entrepreneurs in Thailand were systematically analyzed to compare and contrast nuances in their business models, as well as their features to highlight benefits to CBT. Thematic analysis was used in the data analysis.
Findings
Three different types of business models based on tourism offers, membership policy and contributions to the destination community were identified. The variety of tourism offers includes tailor-made tours and private tour guides, local food experiences, skilled workshops and other local/community-based activities. Importantly, Thai platforms work closely with the Thai Government to promote tourism micro-entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
This paper adds to tourism micro-entrepreneurship, sharing economy and CBT literature by dissecting the business models of online platforms and their roles as mediators of CBT, discussing the platforms’ contributions to the achievement of sustainable development goals.
As multi-stakeholders in tourism development help to create tourism experience, it is therefore vital to understand each stakeholder’s perception towards tourism development. In additon, local leaders and policy makers play a critical role in facilitating the mutual benefits of all tourism stakeholders in sustainable tourism development in the local community. Most research on Social Exchange Theory (SET) in tourism only focuses on resident’s and tourist’s perceptions toward tourism, and some studies indicate the ambiguous explanation and interpretation on SET in understanding community’s perceptions toward tourists and tourism. Therefore, it is a need to understand local leaders’ and policy makers’ perceptions toward sustainable tourism development, as they act as the initiators or facilitators in sustainable tourism development. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten local leaders and policy-makers in Thailand and the results were thematically analysed. The anticipated results explain positive and negative impacts toward economy, society and environment.
Although food waste management has been significant for all stakeholders from all industries globally, research in hospitality food waste management and practices still needs to be further studied, especially in five-star hotels in developing countries. Using the Food Waste Hierarchy, this study proposes to contribute to the knowledge of sustainable food waste management and practices in five medium and large five-star hotels to promote the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Findings of in-depth structured questions from purposive and snowballing samplings show different aspects of sustainable food waste management and practices at these hotels supported by policies and implemented by practices at all levels, from top management to operations levels. The thematical analysis shows four emerging themes: food waste management policies; food service planning, procurement, and storage; food waste handling and operations in the kitchens, staff canteen and restaurants; and food waste management through reusing, recycling, donations, and disposal. The findings highlight these hotels’ challenges and suggestions for sustainable food waste management and practices. By providing the current situation of sustainable food waste management and practices, this study embellishes the guidance and recommendations for the hotels’ restaurants. It augments the industry practitioners with actual practices and solutions in implementing sustainable food waste management and practices in hotels’ restaurants.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.