Entrepreneurship within rural tourism: A private walkway on Banks Peninsula, New Zealand

Rural tourism is considered an economic alternative for farmers who are facing sinking profits and require additional income. This in turn can lead to an entrepreneurial response. The distinction between simple diversification and entrepreneurship takes place when separate legal entities for new ventures are formed. Entrepreneurship is commonly defined as creating something of value from practically nothing (Timmons in Morrison, Rimmington and Williams 1999:10). It is the process of creating or seizing an opportunity, and pursuing it regardless of the resources currently personally controlled. This involves the definition, creation and distribution of value and benefits to individuals. In New Zealand’s modern history, the main factor supporting rural development was how a well educated rural population reacted to the withdrawal of farm subsidies in the mid 1980s. Treeby and Burtenshaw (2003) see this as the key historical driver in the diversification of rural enterprises. New Zealand moved from a highly regulated economy prior to 1984 to one of the most deregulated in the Western World. The thrust of the new government in 1984 was to make farming more efficient by removing subsidies and exposing the rural sector to international prices, including government services, virtually overnight. After initial growing pains, farmers of the post 1984 period are now more confident of their future and reluctant to going back to government subsidized farming. One example of entrepreneurial response resulting from these events has been the establishment of the first private rural walkway in New Zealand on Banks Peninsul