System archetypes as a learning aid within a tourism business planning software tool

Various studies have identified a need for improved business planning among Small-to-Medium Tourism Enterprise (SMTE) operators. The tourism sector is characterized by complexity, rapid change and interactions between many competing and cooperating sub-systems. System dynamics (SD) has proven itself to be an excellent discipline for capturing and modelling precisely this type of domain. In this paper, we report on an SD-based Tourism Enterprise Planning Simulator (TEPS) and its use as a learning aid within a business planning context. Particular emphasis is focussed on system archetypes.