Introduction: Hence Tourism Microentrepreneurship

Microentrepreneurs have played a role in the tourism industry for a long time; however, they are now becoming more visible and increasingly influential stakeholders due to information technologies that enable them to reach prospective visitors, and because their economic activity is more transparent and taxable by governments. Nevertheless, tourism microentrepreneurship is still understudied, and destination practitioners are largely unprepared to fuel microentrepreneurial development and to integrate these genuine, local experiences with the formal sector components of the industry. This chapter provides an introductory overview of related knowledge as a basis for identification of themes in research on tourism microentrepreneurship.