Sustainable Entrepreneurship Tourism: An Alternative Development Approach for Remote Coastal Communities Where Awareness of Tourism is Low

Abstract

ABSTRACTRemote coastal communities often lack direct exposure to tourism activities, resulting in low levels of awareness of tourism. Low levels of awareness and limited understanding of tourism may nullify meaningful participation in widely advocated tourism planning and development strategies, such as community-based tourism (CBT). This paper presents data from a research project that sought to explore the viability of tourism as a development strategy for remote fishing communities in the Philippines. Interviews revealed that awareness of tourism within two remote coastal communities in the Philippines was minimal. These results indicate the limited potential for effective and meaningful participation by locals in tourism development planning as called for by the CBT strategy. Thus, the discussion focuses on theoretical and alternative approaches to tourism development when tourism awareness levels are lacking. As a consequence, a new approach, the Social Entrepreneurship Tourism Model, is proposed, to address the shortcomings of CBT for remote fishing communities with low tourism awareness levels as defined by this study.