Qualitative Analysis of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements of the Hospitality and Tourism Industry (Case study: Bandar Anzali city)

The role of hospitality industry and its link to social - economic development shows that entrepreneurial development in hospitality can be one of the tools of policymakers to achieve economic growth in tourism destinations. Thus, since there are factors and forces on the broader level that influence the development of innovative businesses in the hospitality industry, this industry must be studied from an ecosystem perspective to study the role of these actors in the development of hospitality entrepreneurship. The Thematic analysis was used to analyze data and the data were collected using interviews with 40 experts in hospitality and tourism. The sampling method was purposeful and the theoretical saturation rule was used to determine the sample size. A qualitative coding technique was used to analyze the data. This study identified 14 main elements and 59 sub-elements for the hospitality and tourism entrepreneurial ecosystem which the main elements included "policy", "local culture", "‌variety of capabilities", "training", "human resource", "networking", "knowledge and innovation", "competitive advantage", "institutional capacity", "destination management", "brand management", "rules and regulations", "‌Investment intelligence and financing" and "target market". Moreover, the three-level model of the Hospitality and tourism entrepreneurial ecosystem is presented. Since ecosystems are spontaneously formed in a social-cultural context and the existence of a network of interactions and collaboration among the various elements in the environment, the strengthening of each of these elements will provide an incentive for the development of hospitality and tourism and encourage all stakeholders involved in this area to develop innovative businesses.
 
Extended Abstract
Introduction
The entrepreneurial ecosystem refers to the elements, people, organizations, or institutions that act as a stimulus or an obstacle for a person to become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial ecosystems are supportive environments that lead to growth of advanture businesses and include hundreds of elements that can be grouped in to the six main domains of the market, policy, finance, culture, support and human capital. It examines entrepreneurial development in regions in a comprehensive and holistic manner, and encourages all elements in entrepreneurship development in different stages and departments to support entrepreneurial development (Ghanbarali, 1393: 171; Acs et al, 2017: 6). The concept of an entrepreneurial ecosystem is a useful tool for better understanding the dynamics and complexities of entrepreneurship in tourism destinations. These dynamics are formed by tourists, entrepreneurs, and all regional and local factors that may not be directly involved in tourism. Therefore, the tourism and hospitality industry also are in a broader area where all factors and elements that contribute to entrepreneurship should be studied in the form of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (Kantis and Federico, 2020: 183; ‌Mersham and Ravani, 2018: 350). Thus, this study has tried to identify the effective elements in the development of the hospitality ecosystem of Bandar Anzali. This destination is the second most populous city in Guilan Province, and the first and largest port on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, which always is one of the most attractive destinations and has a high capacity in the development of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship. However, despite its natural, historical, and cultural capabilities in the development of entrepreneurial activity in the field of tourism, it is not developed on its resources.
In this regard, the hospitality and tourism entrepreneurial ecosystem model and the identification of influential elements in the development of entrepreneurial activities helped the managers to strengthen each of them for developing tourism entrepreneurship and sustainable hospitality in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of this destination. Accordingly, the research questions are:

What are the elements of the hospitality and tourism entrepreneurial ecosystem of Bandar Anzali city?
What is the framework of the model extracted from the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Bandar Anzali city?

Methodology
Based on the purpose, this research was developmental-applied research. It was descriptive- analytical according to nature. Research population included experts that had information about tourism and hospitality in Bandar Anzali and they were selected by snowball sampling model. 40 individuals selected as samples. In the qualitative part, the data collection tool was used to identify and explore elements using semi-structured interviews, and in the survey part, a questionnaire was used to collect information. In qualitative section, thematic analysis was used to identify the dimensions and components of the hospitality entrepreneurship ecosystem. This method is used to recognize, analyze and report patterns in qualitative data, and it identifies and classifies the components of a topic by performing open, central, and selective coding.
Results and discussion
To answer the first question of research and analysis of the research findings, 14 selected codes have been identified from field study and 59 related axial coding which plays a role in the development of the tourism entrepreneurial process in Anzali. The main 14 elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem based on results are "policy", "local culture", "variety of capabilities", "training", "human resource", "networking", "knowledge and innovation", "competitive advantage", "institutional capacity", "destination management", "brand management", "rules and regulations", "Investment intelligence and financing" and "target market". For example, one of the elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem is "policy", which is one of the key elements in the ecosystem and refers to the attitudes and actions of policymakers and decisions regarding the development of hospitality entrepreneurship. Local culture is another key element in entrepreneurship, which has been described in most studies as one of the critical elements in the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Entrepreneurship takes place in the cultural-social environment of the destination which can create a supportive environment that leads to the growth of adventure entrepreneurial activities. The "diversity of capabilities" is also identified as one of the elements of the hospitality ecosystem in Anzali. Tourism resources in destination, according to Leiper, are the heart of the tourism industry, and without them, which tourism and hospitality industry will not be formed. The fourth element identified in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Anzali County is "Training". This factor refers to the quality and quantity of scientific and practical knowledge of the area of hospitality field staff studied from different dimensions. "Human capital" also can convert tourism assets into tourism capital and lead to value creation at the destination. Another element is "networking" which is identified. As most studies have pointed out, networking is one of the key points for developing entrepreneurial activities in the destination by creating a different network of stakeholders such as hospitality and tourism, entrepreneurs, local communities, governmental departments, NGOs, etc. The formation of a network of relations among different areas in the hospitality and tourism industry leads to the creation of innovative and new ideas in the destination.
Conclusion
The current research was conducted to identify the elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the hospitality industry in Bandar Anzali and to present its entrepreneurial ecosystem model. Therefore, with field studies and content analysis of interview findings, 14 main elements of the ecosystem along with 59 sub-elements were identified and described, and finally, a three-level ecosystem model was presented for the development of destination entrepreneurship. For example, this research showed that the element of "policy" is one of the influential elements for the development of destination entrepreneurship, so that the development of tourism in the destination can be seen when the development of tourism and hospitality is prioritized in the upstream documents and the policy of the region. And along with other industries such as fishing, ports and seafaring, programs should also be designed for hospitality entrepreneurship development. Another finding is "the culture of the local people, " which can lead to the acceleration or development of innovative businesses as a stimulating or inhibiting social-cultural element in the destination. Paying attention to "diversity of capabilities" is one of the elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, because diverse natural, historical, cultural and artistic capacities form the foundations of the formation of entrepreneurial activities in the tourism and hospitality industry of a destination. The key element of "education" also plays a fundamental role in the process of developing entrepreneurial activities, and its existence as a cultural capital is necessary in the development of the ecosystem. "Networking" is also at different levels in the tourism system, which is created as a result of the existence of social capital in the environment, and within these networks, in addition to the formation of innovative products and refinement of entrepreneurial ideas, considering the neglected potentials of the destination, information and work forces are also accommodated, settled, and the process of entrepreneurship development in the region accelerates. In general, all the 14 key elements of the ecosystem that were explained in the research, with their effects on each other, will lead to the entrepreneurial activities development in the destination ecosystem, as shown in the model presented in the research, how they affect each other at different levels.can be seen when the development of tourism and hospitality is prioritized in the upstream documents and the policy of the region. And along with other industries such as fishing, ports and seafaring, programs should also be designed for the hospitality entrepreneurship development. Another finding is "the culture of the local people," which can lead to the acceleration and development of innovative businesses as a stimulating or inhibiting social-cultural element in the destination. Paying attention to "diversity of capabilities" is one of the elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, because diverse natural, historical, cultural and artistic capacities form the foundations of the formation of entrepreneurial activities in the tourism and hospitality industry of a destination. The key element of "education" also plays a fundamental role in the process of developing entrepreneurial activities, and its existence as a cultural capital is necessary in the development of the ecosystem.
Funding
There is no funding support.
Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the persons for scientific consulting in this paper.