Social-Driven Innovation in Tourism: A Perspective on Soft Attributes of an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

From a Strategic Entrepreneurial Ecosystems perspective, we consider the attributes of a local context that can positively influence social-driven innovations in tourism: specifically, we will examine the concepts of trust and support within a local context and their role in fostering innovation processes and consequently the creation of new ventures. Our idea is a conceptual work that aims, through the analysis of previous literature, to provide some insights and reflections on some characteristics possessed by local contexts, such as small towns and rural villages, which for geographical, cultural, and economic they are sufficiently cohesive to be fertile ground for the development of social-driven innovation. On the one hand, this chapter offers some thoughts for advancing the understanding of the drivers that trigger innovative processes driven by the social context in tourist destinations. On the other, it provides ideas for developing best practices and addressing the decisions of public and private actors and more generally of the entire local community, which together play a key role in innovating the tourism offer of a territory.