Ethnic entrepreneurs, ethnic precincts and tourism : missed opportunities from Sydney

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Business.NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. Access is restricted indefinitely. The hardcopy may be available for consultation at the UTS Library.NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. Access is restricted indefinitely. ----- The thesis investigates the role of ethnic entrepreneurs within respective ethnicity1 ethnic precincts in the cultural urban tourism context. Specifically, it examines the corresponding role of the Vietnamese, Turkish, Italian and Chinese ethnic entrepreneurs within Little Vietnam, Little Turkey, Little Italy and Chinatown, respectively, in Sydney, Australia. It is premised on the former individuals’ importance in the development, and longevity, of the relevant ethnic precincts— incidentally, amongst Sydney’s most prominent —, which raises the question as to their corresponding role in the cultural urban tourism context. The thesis uses a two stage qualitative methodology, and the multi-component ‘symbolic economy’ concept (Zukin 1995)—producers (ethnic entrepreneurs, only), consumers and critical infrastructure members—as the conceptual framework, with five, twenty- five and five individuals, respectively, from the particular components, in3 each ethnic precinct, interviewed or contacted, per stage. The symbolic economy concept (Zukin 1995) properly situates the ethnic entrepreneurs within the relevant ethnic precinct, and establishes their role herein. In the process, the roles of the other components involved in the relevant ethnic precinct are also identified, and the intra- and inter-component interaction, within the ethnic precinct, is similarly illustrated. Results indicate that the role of producers is to be, in one way or another, the ultimate attractor of consumers to the relevant ethnic precinct; that the role of consumers is to be attracted to the relevant ethnic precinct by either the ethnic products and/or services supplied by producers therein, or the ethnic products and/or services supplied by any entrepreneurs therein, and the highly visible ethnic culturally-specific matter of some organizations and/or enterprises within, and, at times, of the wider ethnic precinct, as well; and, that the (primary) role of critical infrastructure members is to provide proper personal, organization and/or enterprise, and ethnic precinct-wide support (non-financial) for respective producers. The thesis finds that despite the producers’ significance, they are not receiving proper—deserved—respective support from corresponding critical infrastructure members. This is largely attributable to communication-related problems on the part of the latter. The thesis calls for the delivery of proper respective support for producers to be resolved so as to leverage the relevant ethnic precinct’s true economic and socio-cultural potential in the cultural urban tourism context, which is largely based on, and defined by, corresponding producers