Abstract
This manuscript uses a social-representational approach that allows for including social interactions, history and cultural background to explain and cluster resident attitudes to tourism in protected areas in developing countries. Based on the published evidence on the failure of community-based tourism programmes and projects that aim to achieve community engagement and benefits, and on scholars attributing those failures to the lack of consideration given to the perceptions and ambitions of the communities, that in turn are split into different groups that perceive tourism dissimilarly, we propose a pathway to encouraging community engagement and participation. Field work carried out throughout the settlements neighbouring the National Park of La Langue de Barbarie in northern Senegal allowed to identify three group profiles: The largest minority are reluctant to accept any type of tourism at all, a second minority actively supports another type of community-based tourism, more locally centred, and a third group consists of those mainly wanting to escape their unwanted existence and migrate. We conclude that, to achieve successful sustainable tourism development, interventions should capacitate the group that supports tourism to lead initiatives, seduce the reluctant ones, energise those who seek to migrate and negotiate with the external tourist agents to achieve more equitable tourism development in which locals actively participate.
Highlights
The take-off of tourism as a global industry and the wave of decolonising processes that lead to the creation of dozens of new states in Africa are contemporary processes; they happen within the framework of the most transcendental period of growth and structural change that the global economy experienced during the twentieth century, and it is coincident with the period in which the Latin American economies investigate their potential for diversification and endogenous growth, under the intellectual leadership of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Based on evidence from La Langue de Barbarie National Park, in northern Senegal, this article aims at identifying the endogenous factors that preclude rural communities neighbouring the PA to get engaged in tourism development, even when it is self-claimed as community-based tourism, and characterise potential leading groups to be engaged in more genuine sustainable tourism strategies, focussed on local needs
As in the case of northern Senegal, many poor communities surrounding protected areas are disappointed with tourism but several groups within the communities show differing reasons for feeling like that
Summary
The take-off of tourism as a global industry and the wave of decolonising processes that lead to the creation of dozens of new states in Africa are contemporary processes; they happen within the framework of the most transcendental period of growth and structural change that the global economy experienced during the twentieth century (the Golden Age), and it is coincident with the period in which the Latin American economies investigate their potential for diversification and endogenous growth, under the intellectual leadership of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean In this context, literature soon attributed to tourism a high potential to induce economic growth in developing countries by expanding export possibilities from raw materials and primary products to the provision of services to tourists, based on the natural and cultural attractions they treasured [1,2,3,4,5]. Tourism has been stated as being disruptive in other social (breakdown of community roles, increasing inequalities, non-legitimate shifts in power of certain groups) and cultural (values, habits, social norms, etc.) realms
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
