Destination competitiveness is a crucial issue for many stakeholders in the industry of tourism. In recent years tourism destinations have faced many challenges with respect to upholding the attractiveness. This illuminates the role of tourism entrepreneurs who by using their innovative, creative and dynamic approaches offer the package of attraction, accommodation, amenities and accessibility for enhancing the attractiveness of a particular destination. Much of past academic work on the role of tourism entrepreneurs is qualitative in nature, involving case studies and interviews. Yet there is a dearth of comprehensive review of the qualitative work on the role of tourism entrepreneurs and destination competitiveness. This review paper aims to fill that gap and identifies the advancements in this area which helps in establishing a foundation for further research. The paper found that tourism entrepreneurs have a catalytic, dynamic and long lasting influence at all stages of tourism destination life cycle. Although the role of tourism entrepreneurs has been subsumed in development of destination competitiveness, review of literature strongly revels that even an individual tourism entrepreneur plays a major role in tourist destination development by creating a culture of tourism, influencing development policies and mobilising local resources.

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Keywords: Tourism, Entrepreneurship, Tourism Entrepreneur, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Destination Competitiveness.