Small and Medium-Sized Tourism Enterprises’ Response to COVID-19 : An Outlook of Business Resilience in Bali, Indonesia

Abstract: A majority of the businesses operating in the tourism industry are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is especially true in small island destinations, where many SMEs often depend financially on tourism. This paper investigates what characteristics tourism SMEs that survived the COVID-19 pandemic in Bali have. This study uses a deductive approach to describe the characteristics of the surviving tourism SMEs in Bali. The data were obtained through conducting qualitative semi-structured interviews with 15 business owners and managers of tourism SMEs in Bali, Indonesia. The data was analyzed through a thematic analysis. The analysis found five distinct categories shared among the majority of the tourism SMEs interviewed. Out of these five categories, five main characteristics behind the survival of the SMEs were derived: (1) minimizing variable costs, (2) focus on promotional activities, (3) bonding network, (4) owning property, (5) creating new products and/or services. The findings provide new descriptive insights to the field of business resilience for SMEs in Bali, Indonesia. Future research can build upon these descriptive findings to create resilience frameworks for SMEs in Bali and other destinations alike.