ABSTRACT Returnee entrepreneurial migrants significantly contribute to poverty reduction and tourism development. Although existing research has acknowledged the impacts of entrepreneurial mobility on entrepreneurial performance, it has overlooked the distinctions among returnee groups. This study addresses this gap by incorporating geographical heterogeneity and entrepreneurial self‐efficacy into the framework of return migration and tourism entrepreneurship. The aim is to investigate the perceptions of tourism entrepreneurship among different returnee groups through two studies. Study 1 employs content analysis of interviews to explore barriers and success factors in tourism entrepreneurship. Study 2 focuses on examining disparities in these factors across different returnee groups. A total of 305 returnees in Xijiang Village participated in the survey, and data analysis was carried out using SPSS and AMOS. The findings reveal significant variations in both barriers and success factors of tourism entrepreneurship among different returnee groups. At last, theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and limitations are discussed.
Yang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.