Major challenges to sustainable enterprise development within the tourism industry in Libreville, Gabon

Abstract

SMMEs provide an indispensable framework for addressing unemployment, poverty and boosting the economy of a country. This report was impelled by the need to create and sustain enterprises within the hotels and restaurant subsector of the tourism industry in Libreville, Gabon. A quantitative methodology was embraced to disperse seventy selfadministered questionnaires to owners and managers of hotels and restaurants. The results demonstrate that the key components which lead to the failure or non-sustainability of businesses include: limited access to start-up finance required to cover start-up and growth cost, the low return on investment, as well as the mismanagement of businesses. Given that job creation remains a dependable method for diminishing unemployment and poverty, establishing and sustaining businesses in Libreville would be a step in the right direction in Gabon.