Small tourism firms and management practices in New Zealand: The Centre Stage Macro Region

This paper examines critical issues related to the management of small tourism firms (STFs). It is based on a postal survey of 317 STFs, supplemented by 57 in-depth interviews with owner-managers. The findings suggest that the development and management of small tourism firms are shaped by a number of different factors related to the business owner–manager, nature of the tourism activity, its locality and other aspects of the sector specific business environment. A central part of New Zealand, encompassing four localities integrated in a single marketing entity, the Centre Stage [tourism] Macro Region (CSMR), provides the geographical scope of this study. The area exhibits a blend of urban and rural contexts offering a unique opportunity to examine managerial problems in the growing small tourism sector.