Tourism Enterprise Opportunities

Tourism Enterprise Opportunities

Andrew Skadberg, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
Jeremy James, Graduate Assistant
Miles Phillips, Nature Tourism Program Specialist
Carson E. Watt, Professor Emeritus
Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences
The Texas A&M University System
and
James R. Kimmel, Associate Professor
Texas State University — San Marcos

Special thanks to Stan Meador, James Featherston and Jason Johnson

This resource was originally published by Texas Cooperative Extension as "Nature Tourism: a Guidebook for Evaluating Enterprise Opportunities.

This publication is no longer in print, nor is it available as an online resource, until now. This presentation is essentially the original publication with minor alterations for posting on the Web and to correct materials or links that are no longer available.

These materials were also taught as a course at Texas A&M in 2004, but the original intent was to create an online course for Texan's interested in developing nature tourism on their farms and ranches. Even though the content describes the situation in Texas, the guidelines will be useful for any type of tourism business no matter where the location. The detailed information in Section 5 are the most specific to Texas, so you will need to seek assistance in your area.

An Enterprise Assessment Resource
This resource guide aims to address the most important questions and issues to consider in evaluating a potential tourism/recreation enterprise. Because we know that your time is valuable, we have strived to be concise but acknowledge that such a resource cannot provide all the answers on these topics.

Introduction
Getting Started
Section 2 - Enterprise Selection & Product Development
Section 3 - Creating a Financial Plan
Section 4 - Creating a Marketing Plan
Section 5 - Enterprise Selection & Moving Forward