University Research Base

UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS IN BUILDING SUSTAINABLE TOURISM VILLAGES (A CASE STUDY IN NGLANGGERAN)

Desy Nur Aini Fajri

Lecturer, Tourism Study Program, Faculty of Letters and Cultures, Universitas Gunadarma, Indonesia

Keywords: Role, Social Entrepreneurs, Sustainable, Tourism Village

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Abstract

Although social entrepreneurs are key actors in tourism villages and hence play an pivotal role in driving changes and creating relevant and sustainable business models, there remains a gap in understanding how they can influence tourism village sustainability. Accordingly, the research aims to fill the gap by finding/exploring social entrepreneurs’ roles in building sustainable tourism villages. A descriptive qualitative approach and a case study design were applied to observe social entrepreneurs in tourism village sustainability. The subject was a case study of social entrepreneurs as the drivers of Nglanggeran tourism village, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, a tourism village with global awards as a sustainable tourism village. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with three actors influential in the success of tourist villages and selected using a purposive sampling technique, followed by observation and documentation. Content analysis was carried out to describe findings, allowing for a better understanding of the case studied and producing best practices likely to be adopted by other tourism villages. This research found that the key to sustainable tourism village development depended on the measures made by social entrepreneurs, who should therefore act as strategic planners, marketers, and architects in their tourism villages. Theoretically, the research contributes to developing a social entrepreneur model applicable in the context of tourism villages, and practically, it enriches best practices on how social entrepreneurs account for improving tourism village welfare. Future research is needed by comparing the role of social entrepreneurs in several tourism villages with different characteristics to apprehend what factors affect the success and sustainability of the villages.

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