PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the factors that make tourism a particularly attractive industry for new minority entrepreneurs. Moreover, the paper aims to consider the interrelationships of this occupational strategy with the establishment of relations of new minorities with the rest of society.Design/methodology/approachA theory building qualitative approach was followed. Data were gathered by conducting five semi‐structured interviews in the Alpine tourism regions of Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino. A GABEK analysis was performed.FindingsThe findings suggest that the tourism sector is suitable for new minority entrepreneurship because of the relatively low entry barriers and because it values the competitive strengths of new minority members (international ties and trans‐cultural skills).Originality/valueThe value of this paper lies in its contribution to understanding better the reasons for new minority members to become entrepreneurs in tourism, considering also the socio‐cultural implications of this professional development. Particularly, the paper adds to the existing literature by showing that tourism is not only attractive because of a relatively easy entry but also because its key success factors suit the human capital of new minorities well.

The destination image reflects the impressions and ideas tourists have of a holiday region and strongly influences visitors' behavior. Visitors to cultural events have differing images of destinations according to their interest in seeing the event itself. Destination managers can exploit the factors that influence the destination image and customer satisfaction with a cultural event in order to successfully position the destination and improve communication. Destination image, quality of event, and customer satisfaction are highly related, and this study analyzes these factors for three differently motivated groups of visitors. An empirical investigation of visitors at 2008 Manifesta 7, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, was conducted in order to ascertain differences among groups according to these variables. The results show that differentiation of promotion measures is needed depending on the single items that influence satisfaction with cultural event and tourist offerings.

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