Informal tourism entrepreneurs’ capital usage and conversion

Measuring the size of the informal tourism economy in Thailand

“…Recent research in tourism studies concerning the informal economy focuses on the new issues and approaches such as the resilience of informal tourism enterprises to natural disasters (Biggs et al, 2012), street vendors' contribution to tourism development (Yotsumoto, 2013), tourism financing systems and networks (Ngoasong & Kimbu, 2016), coopetition among the informal tourism service providers (Damayanti et al, 2017), informal women entrepreneurs' role in ethnic tourism (Trupp & Sunanta, 2017), street vendors' perspectives on tourism and poverty alleviation (Truong, 2018), informal business tourism (Rogerson, 2018) and the tales of informal tourism enterprises (Pécot, Gavilanes, & De Viteri, 2018). Given the importance of entrepreneurship for the welfare of a local community in general and for tourism stakeholders in the informal tourism economy in particular, two very recent articles (Çakmak et al, 2018, 2019) examine the informal tourism entrepreneurs' capital possession and how the tourism stakeholders use these forms of capital in determining their position in the tourism field and beyond. Thus far, still, there has been little systematic research into how the informal tourism economy grows and links to the national economy in aggregate and to the labour market.…”

“…Despite the debates and critiques about the informal economy, several studies continued to attest the role of informal entrepreneurs in the tourism and travel sector. Although they do not register their activities officially to avoid taxes and regulation (Webb, Bruton, Tihanyi, & Ireland, 2013), the informal tourism entrepreneurs create jobs (Webb, Tihanyi, Ireland, & Sirmon, 2009), support and teach skills to one another (Damayanti, Scott, & Ruhanen, 2017) and fill the product and service gaps in the formal tourism sector (Çakmak, Lie, & Selwyn, 2019). This renewed interest in the informal tourism economy stems from the fact that it can provide deeper and detailed information necessary—for instance—in designing effective policies, depicting national employment trends, monitoring informal conditions and analysing linkages between entrepreneurship and economic growth.…”

The practice of informal tourism entrepreneurs: a Bourdieusian perspective

“…They work on their own account, hire people from their close environments, and the local communities in which they operate benefit from their entrepreneurial activities, especially during an economic crisis (Brata, 2010;Dahles & Prabawa, 2013). Both formal and informal tourism entrepreneurs consider trade-offs and opportunity costs related with alternative courses of action, collect and converse different types of capital (solid or in any hybrid combination), and improve their positioning in their occupational choices (Çakmak, Lie, & Selwyn, 2019). In the course of doing this, they unconsciously adapt their habitus regarding their position in the social structure.…”

“…However, not much is known about their contribution to reconstructing the social spaces and generating social change endogenously. While Bourdieu's theories have been applied sparingly within tourism research (Çakmak et al, 2018;Çakmak et al, 2019;Lee & Scott, 2017), practice-based research can provide the empirical foundation to analyse habitus adaptation.…”

“…Despite the debates and critiques about the informal economy, several studies continued to attest the role of informal entrepreneurs in tourism and travel sector. Albeit they do not register their activities officially to avoid taxes and regulation (Webb, Bruton, Tihanyi & Ireland, 2013), they create jobs (Webb, Tihanyi, Ireland & Sirmon, 2009), support and teach skills to one another (Damayanti, Scott & Ruhanen, 2017), and fill out the product and service gaps in the formal tourism sector (Çakmak, Lie & Selwyn, 2019). This renewed interest in informal tourism economy stems from the fact that it can provide deeper and detailed information necessary -for instance -in designing effective policies, depicting national employment trends, monitoring informality conditions, and analysing linkages between entrepreneurship and economic growth.…”