The Development of Social Capital during the Process of Starting an Agritourism Business
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Very interesting topic but the title is too big that is not supported by the research: different life cycles of Tunisian agritourism entrepreneur - mainly discussed is just the business set up phase, as most businesses barely exist one year long.
From the title, it seems a very interesting topic if covering the whole life cycles of a business. However, the manuscript just studied businesses created barely one year ago, so during the Pandemic.
Also, the manuscript introduced many concepts with details definition/discussions/references, such as traditional agritourism, entrepreneurial agritourism (p2); economic capital, social capital, and cultural capital (p3); life cycles of agritourism business. the literature review on the life cycles of agritourism business is totally missing; the metrics of social capital are never defined and discussed in literature review and came from nowhere; in general the literature review not enough to help audience to understand these concepts and methods used in the study; lastly, no details on Tunisian and its agritourism will not help most readers of this journal to understand this research. So each section should be enhanced; Section 4 should be separated into two: Results, and Discussion.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We have taken into consideration all the remarks of the reviewer, and we have made the necessary changes.
We made a change into the title, and we added the concept of agritourism in Tunisia in the literature review as you mentioned. Also, we made a change into the paragraph of social capital to explain more the metrics of this concept. We improved the English language and the style of the article. Also, we divided the result part from the discussion.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
- There are ten business providers mentioned in the introduction. Still, then in table 3, there are ten people (not ten business providers because in many cases people work together in one business). It should be clarified.
- I miss a mention about types of tourists who are standard clients of examined businesses (Tunisians x foreigners etc.), although it is indicated in the conclusion that the focus is more towards Tunisians - "...acquaintances (friends of friends, family friends) sometimes use word of mouth to attract tourists".
- Some Tunisian specifics connected with Tunisian culture influencing social capital (e.g., big supportive families) could be mentioned.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We have taken into consideration all the remarks of the reviewer, and we have made the necessary changes.
We clarify the part of the sample in the introduction and also in the sampling part. Also, we explain the type of tourists whose visit rural lodgings but in this part, I was concentrating how the social capital helped to attract tourists. We added a paragraph to explain how the Tunisian family support her relatives in their businesses.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
2.3 too general that is not specific to the country Tunisia. Not stats of Agritourism about this country? just one ref? also some general description of this country will be helpful to the readers I believe most of who are not familiar with the country.
2.4 too general too, and not related to agritourism at all. There are already many research on agritourism and social capital that you have to include: from this ref 10.9707/2328-0824.1084 you may easily find those.
all these efforts should focus on and link to agritourism business startup, and social capital so they are relevant.
ref 22 looks like two refs! Those new refs are more on social capital, not on both social capital and agritourism dev.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We have taken into consideration all the remarks of the reviewer, and we have made the necessary changes.
We made a change related to the concept of agritourism in Tunisia in the literature review as you mentioned. Also, we made a change to the paragraph of social capital to explain more the relationship with agritourism. We corrected the references.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely.
Round 3
Reviewer 1 Report
some minor grammar issues: eg the very first sentence, ..... described... ->... that described ....
Author Response
Dear Reviewers,
We have taken into consideration all the remarks of the reviewer, and we have made the necessary changes.
We corrected the grammatical faults.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
