When a young ventures into the entrepreneurial journey, the starting point for success certainly is the territory. As a ready and existing knowledge base, the territory is made up of what works and what not, of particular needs and, at the same time, of hidden and explicit potentialities. The territory can tell a young entrepreneur whether there is room and support for his/her idea, whether there is a good chance for his/her business to grow, whether the expected results are worth the effort. However, in order to get this kind of message, the territory should be properly decoded: this is the goal of the current module, where you will learn to identify a market, as well as to conduct a survey on potential customers, where complete information on them is missing. Finally, you will learn to process the data of interest.

• Market size.

• Profitability.

• Potential growth.

• Virtual Tourism Observatory
• Eurostat
• European Travel Commission

The VTO aims to support policy makers and businesses to develop better strategies for a more competitive European tourism sector. Their website offers a first ready-for-consultation representation of data: it helps getting a first glimpse on what is going on in the sector.

The visualization options are customizable, as well as the level (either the global EU or the country level) to be examined. The different options include dynamic representations of

The graphical representations (such as bars vs horizontal lines, differently colored points, different bars) allow comparisons and ease up data interpretation. At the same time, the possibility to set up options and the responsiveness on the mouse click allows to narrow everything down and visualize information of interest.

The VTO website provides a Country Profile area. By clicking on it, you will have the possibility to customize the data of interest you want to collect. Data available in the VTO come from the Eurostat database

In the VTO Country Profile section, let us say we want to explore how our country of interest is positioned in the European context. We might do so by comparing our country of interest with the European union.

• Who is your reference population (e.g. potential customers)?
• What is the area/topic you want to investigate (e.g. a particular kind of cultural tourism? Focused on sport activity rather than on typical food?)
• When (e.g. time period of inquiry)?
• Where?
• Why (e.g. to inquiry how prone are people towards the idea, to understand strong points as well as hindrances to your idea)?

• How to investigate,

Sampling represents a fundamental strategy: allows one to estimate the population parameters/results/perceptions by leveraging part of it. Sampling consists of extracting units from the population according to criteria that help generalize findings. In other words, a sound sampling strategy gives the possibility to state it is likely that a specific kind of customer would behave and perceive in a given way, based on the results obtained on part of them. However, generalizability depends on the sampling method itself. Sampling criteria might be divided into:

1. Probabilistic, where every element has a known nonzero probability of being sampled. Probabilistic sampling also involves a random selection at some point. In any probabilistic sampling method, the starting point is a list of the whole population. Extracting your customers of interest from a list of all the possible tourists registered in the summer season would allow you to generalize your conclusions.

Known probabilistic sampling strategies include:

1. 1. Simple Random Sampling: all the elements under investigation have the same probability of being part of the sample. Starting from a list of the whole population, the units are sampled randomly.

1. 2. Systematic Sampling: the study population according is ordered and, after a random start, elements are selected at regular intervals through that ordered list.

2. Non Probabilistic, where some elements of the population have no chance of selection (sometimes the latter are referred to as 'out of coverage'/'undercovered'), the probability of selection cannot be accurately determined. Therefore, they allow one to hypothesize rather than to generalize. Even though the evident shortcomings of this strategy, it can still be very useful when there is no knowledge about a certain phenomenon, as well as when a list of a whole population of interest is not available. Non probabilistic sampling strategies include:
   1. Convenience Sampling: the sample is taken from a group of people easy to contact or to reach;
   2. Snowball Sampling: after finding a group of initial respondents, these are used to recruit more respondents;

After determining the sampling criteria, it is time for the definition of the data collection tools: there is a very broad range of data collection tools, differing by their degree of structuredness (e.g. interviews move without a specific structure, living respondents free to develop their responses, while questionnaires are more rigorous and ask for shorter, defined answers). The Internet is a powerful source to find out whether somebody else already developed a data collection tool (such as a questionnaire) which is valid, reliable, appropriate to the sector you want to investigate, and perhaps… Directly downloadable! If you won’t find out any already existing tool, you might create one. However, it is important to keep some criteria in mind here, as well. Specifically, a questionnaire is a tool designed to collect information about aspects of interest (variables). 3 are the main steps of a questionnaire construction:

• Conceptual design. If you detailed the previously mentioned 5 Ws and the H, you already set up a conceptual design for your survey;
• Set up the questionnaire, that is

• Formulation: when you build up a questionnaire, use

• Order:

• Verification: from one side, it is important to evaluate the congruity between the measurement tool, as it has been prepared, and the cognitive needs of the survey; also, its functionality as a communication tool and as a useful tool for the interviewer. Verification is usually carried out through a pilot study, where the questionnaire is first administered to a reasoned sample. The final aim would be to allow the tool to produce generalizable results across groups and methods.