Tourism Family-Business Owners’ Risk Perception: Its Impact on Destination Development

Abstract

In developing and sustaining tourism, destination management involves the coordination of various stakeholders, and theory suggests that securing sustainability, including stakeholder interests in decision-making and strategic planning is crucial. Therefore, understanding stakeholders’ interests and relationships is also essential. In the Austrian Alpine region, small- and medium-sized family businesses offering tourism products dominate the rural tourism landscape. However, little research has been done on how these family firms contribute to shaping the destination’s future. Therefore, through guided interviews, this qualitative study examined family-business owners’ perceptions of risks for Austrian tourism destination development. Family firms externalized such risks as labor shortage as a structural issue and neglected their responsibility to attract employees by improving working conditions. Thus, the externalization of risks to other stakeholder groups prevented family firms’ proactive approach to sustainable destination development.