Promoting female entrepreneurship in tourism for sustainable development

The paper presents the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the issue of the development of female entrepreneurship in tourism. Today female entrepreneurs consider being the driving force of economies. Many governments try to promote female engagement in many economies to cover the gender gap. The tourism sphere has a great significance in the economy of the Republic of Armenia. For Armenia, it is crucial to foster female entrepreneurship in tourism that leads to sustainable and equitable development of regions and contributes to social, economic, and environmental development. Today women face many problems for starting a business in tourism in Armenia. The problems are connected with the lack of finance, necessary knowledge, and skills in management, marketing, business organization, etc. The research aims to explore the main competencies and needs of sustainable entrepreneurship and female entrepreneurial skills in the tourism sector. Systematization literary sources and approaches for solving the problem unveiled many studies on promoting female entrepreneurship in tourism. Investigation of the topic in the paper is carried out in the following logical sequence. Firstly, some literature sources were discussed, then the current tourism situation in Armenia was analyzed, and finally, the main results of surveys were presented. The methodological tool of the research was mainly a survey based on a questionnaire, which includes about 50 questions and 45 questions regarding the main skills. The study applied quantitative and statistical methods to analyze the survey results. The survey engaged women who have or plans to start a business in tourism. The results indicate that women have many problems with starting a business. Also, they have difficulties in business development, doing innovations, marketing and attracting tourists, etc. They rate their skills level at a medium-rare, and the majority want to improve their skills for doing business, marketing, communication, analytical, decision-making, and other skills. The results could be the basis on which many steps are taken to promote sustainable female entrepreneurship in tourism.