How is tourist data information transferred into the small business decision process? How useful is acquiring the “Big Picture”?

The paper addresses the relationship between a tourism authority and micro‐tourism businesses in terms of information access and use. The background is the commonly found dysfunction between the strategic intentions of a locality and small business performance. Information seeking is examined theoretically through its relationship to human capital. Given the evidence of entrance to the industry from outside it, it was thought that lack of tourism training would influence information seeking. The study confirmed the low levels of human capital, a modest interest in the larger picture but no evidence of the impact on decision‐making. The study also raises the issue of whether the use of the Internet separates small businesses from the regional tourism strategy.