No Ordinary Business: Lifestyle Entrepreneurs and Their Tourism Products : Insights from Finnish Lapland
Bohn, Dorothee (2013)
Rovaniemen ammattikorkeakoulu Lapin ammattikorkeakoulu
2013
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2013112518061
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2013112518061
Tiivistelmä
This thesis is an exploratory journey into the relationship between lifestyle entrepreneurs and their tourism products with a regional focus on Finnish Lapland. Lifestyle entrepreneurship in tourism is characteristically associated with owner-operators who are motivated by pursuing a certain way of life rather than by a strong market or profit ethos. So far, lifestyle entrepreneurship has not been explicitly discussed in relation to the tourism product and vice versa. For conceptualizing the tourism product, I draw upon the socio-cultural approach to tourism products.
The qualitative study was divided to provide both, a practical as well as a theoretical outlook on lifestyle entrepreneurship in relation to tourism products. The empirical data consists of five thematic in depth-interviews with lifestyle entrepreneurs operating in Finnish Lapland, supplemented by online documentary material of the corresponding tourism firms’ websites. The data was analysed in an inductive and exploratory Applied Thematic Analysis (ATA).
From a socio-cultural perspective, tourism products can be conceived in terms of performance. The theoretical findings suggest that the tourism product serves as a platform for the lifestyle entrepreneurs to ‘live’, perform and communicate not only their way of live choices but also their identity. This tourism product performance takes place in simultaneous production and consumption cycles with social interaction between hosts and guests at its heart.
The practically oriented results indicate that networking, a well developed yet personalized website and customer relationships are central for lifestyle entrepreneurs in marketing their tourism products. Lifestyle entrepreneurs are part of various networks, which do not only grant product visibility but are also a meeting point for socializing and generating ideas. Lifestyle entrepreneurs’ websites characteristically portray the strong bond between producers and product. Besides, lifestyle entrepreneurs are well connected to their customers during the actual performance of the tourism product plus in pre-purchase and post-purchase stages.
In sum, the core of lifestyle entrepreneurs’ tourism products and the value-rendering ingredient is social interaction between hosts and guests and it is in the tourism product, where the ‘lifestyle’ suffix of entrepreneurship is played out.
Key words Lifestyle Entrepreneurship, Tourism Product, Finnish Lapland, Socio-Cultural Approach to Tourism Products
The qualitative study was divided to provide both, a practical as well as a theoretical outlook on lifestyle entrepreneurship in relation to tourism products. The empirical data consists of five thematic in depth-interviews with lifestyle entrepreneurs operating in Finnish Lapland, supplemented by online documentary material of the corresponding tourism firms’ websites. The data was analysed in an inductive and exploratory Applied Thematic Analysis (ATA).
From a socio-cultural perspective, tourism products can be conceived in terms of performance. The theoretical findings suggest that the tourism product serves as a platform for the lifestyle entrepreneurs to ‘live’, perform and communicate not only their way of live choices but also their identity. This tourism product performance takes place in simultaneous production and consumption cycles with social interaction between hosts and guests at its heart.
The practically oriented results indicate that networking, a well developed yet personalized website and customer relationships are central for lifestyle entrepreneurs in marketing their tourism products. Lifestyle entrepreneurs are part of various networks, which do not only grant product visibility but are also a meeting point for socializing and generating ideas. Lifestyle entrepreneurs’ websites characteristically portray the strong bond between producers and product. Besides, lifestyle entrepreneurs are well connected to their customers during the actual performance of the tourism product plus in pre-purchase and post-purchase stages.
In sum, the core of lifestyle entrepreneurs’ tourism products and the value-rendering ingredient is social interaction between hosts and guests and it is in the tourism product, where the ‘lifestyle’ suffix of entrepreneurship is played out.
Key words Lifestyle Entrepreneurship, Tourism Product, Finnish Lapland, Socio-Cultural Approach to Tourism Products