Abstract
ABSTRACT Community-based ecotourism (CBE) promotes the preservation of local natural environments, livelihood and culture. Like living museums, CBE is a site rich in experiential visitor learning, but without the purposeful, curated design of learning characteristic of museums. This paper first compares characteristics of CBE and living museums using Williams [(2013) Performing interpretation. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 13(2), 115–126] four-part conceptual framework for living history museums. It then applies this framework to three case studies of CBE in Southeast Asia. Each is analyzed in terms of scenography, characterization, narrative, and collective experience. The paper concludes with a discussion of results, and proposes how local villagers might be able to more effectively plan and design their ecotourism projects as ‘living museums’, while at the same time addressing common CBE project design challenges related to cultural authenticity, commodification of culture, privacy and hosting fatigue.
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