Understanding the morphology in the form of business expansion: Perspective of small tourism firm in coastal resort destination

Abstract

Resort morphology literature can be traced back since 1930s and most cases referring to the coast of Europe and United State. In 1970s, it begins to give emphasis on aspects such as land use pattern, infrastructure, Central Business District, Recreational Business District and impact studies. The literature expands to the aspects of socioeconomic, hotel development and resort lifecycle in the 1980s. Later in 1990s, it was extended to politic and investment, tourist behavior, transportation, Tourism Business District and environmental management. Following 2000s, the discussion move into change in land use intensity and restructuring resort strategies. All these aspects are still relevant in the existing literature today. However, it was argued that existing issue from these literatures cannot escape from too much emphasis on the physical aspects. Limited study given to the aspect of non-physical than theoretical components of space management for physical and strategic planning purposes. For example, the aspects of business expansion and entrepreneur growth, and as to how this is able to influence resort morphology. The Small tourism firm manages to sustain their present from generation to generation with increasing skills relevant to financial, personal attitude, business resources and networking, and abilities in terms of operational, managerial and strategic. Therefore, the characteristic of resort morphology should be seen in a different context in which the competitiveness and survivability of these small tourism firms is vital to explore.