Designing a sustainable tourism supply chain: A case study from Asia

Abstract

This chapter presents an in-depth look into a startup with the innovative idea of providing authentic travel experience by matching tourists with locals who are willing to share their native skills or traditional knowledge. With numerous offices offering services in cities across South and Southeast Asia, the online social enterprise has proven to be financially sustainable. Using the experience of this social venture as a case study, this chapter will analyze the challenges involved in redesigning a new service supply chain that creates novel value for customers and at the same time shifts a greater share of benefits generated from tourism to previously marginalized players.