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Abstract
The past decade has witnessed an upsurge of research interests in entrepreneurship and small/family businesses in tourism and hospitality. Despite this, a comprehensive review of relevant literature has revealed that research in this domain is predominantly built upon western realities, with few studies focusing on the developing world. This study represents one of the initial attempts to address this weakness. Specifically, it seeks to investigate and understand the characteristics and goals (relating to start-up, business operation, and family) of rural family business owners in developing countries, and beyond that, make a cross-cultural comparison on the basis of evidence obtained from developed countries. Data were primarily collected through a questionnaire-based survey in the rural destinations of Guangxi, PR China, achieving a valid sample of 226. Statistical analysis has unveiled a number of significant differences between developing and developed countries, from which important implications for future research were drawn.