Women entrepreneurs in tourism in a time of a life event crisis
Filimonau V. Matyakubov U. Matniyozov M. Shaken A. Mika M.
2024Routledge
Journal of Sustainable Tourism
2024#32Issue 3457 - 479 pp.
Female entrepreneurship drives tourism development in resource-scarce destinations but little is known about why local women engage in business and what determines their success in a time of a life event crisis. This knowledge is important as it can support policies on regional regeneration and poverty alleviation. This study draws upon the Bourdieus model of practice with its notions of capital, agents, field, and habitus to examine the experiences of women running tourism enterprises in a destination with the legacy of an anthropogenic environmental disaster, the Aral Sea region. Semi-structured interviews with women entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan (n = 18) and Kazakhstan (n = 15) showcase prevalence of the necessity-based and extrinsic motivations in a time of crisis. Interviews also demonstrate the importance of social capital women entrepreneurs built with such agents of entrepreneurial practice as family, friends, policymakers, employees, and competitors. The original contribution of the study is in revealing how local cultural traditions reinforce various types of capital, strengthen the field of knowledge, and shape habitus of women entrepreneurs in critical times. Another original contribution is in highlighting how the experience of past life event crises has aided in psychological coping of women tourism entrepreneurs during COVID-19.
disaster , Female entrepreneurship , life event crisis , resource scarce destination , small family business
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School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom
Hotelschool The Hague, Den Haag, Netherlands
Faculty of Tourism and Economics, Urgench State University, Urgench, Uzbekistan
Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management
Hotelschool The Hague
Faculty of Tourism and Economics
Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences
Institute of Geography and Spatial Management
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026