Sustainable Community-based Tourism Research Articles

The Role of Local Community in Enhancing Sustainable Community Based Tourism

The emergence of “community-based tourism” (CBT) is seen as a viable and alternative means of promoting sustainable tourism development, enhancing community welfare, as well as empowering local communities. By actively involving and empowering the local community, this tourism model aims to minimize negative social, cultural, and environmental impacts while fostering economic benefits for the community. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the pivotal role played by local communities in the success and sustainability of community-based tourism initiatives. Therefore, a systematic review is conducted to investigate the multifaceted contributions of the local community to sustainable community-based tourism. The researcher examined relevant peer-reviewed articles, books, and reports published in English between 2000 and 2022, focusing on the role of local community in enhancing sustainable community-based tourism. The search was performed in important databases such as Google Scholar, Tandfonline, and ScienceDirect, resulting in a total of 965 publications. After applying removing duplicates and inclusion criteria, only 30 articles out of 152 full articles met the requirements. This thorough and systematic review concludes that active participation of the local community in decision-making processes positively impacts sustainable “community-based tourism”. The findings highlight that the local community acts as a key stakeholder in decision-making processes, ensuring that tourism development aligns with community values and aspirations.

The Role of Local Networks in Supportive Mechanisms Model for Sustainable Community-based Tourism Administration

ABSTRACT This research is a mixed-methods participatory study to examine what contributes to the success or failure of community-based tourism (CBT) administration in Chumphon, Thailand. Although this province has long been known for its flourishing natural and cultural resources, it also faces many challenges in initiating and sustaining CBT development. Using data and observations gathered for over five years, this paper encouraged residents to participate in multiple research workshops to exchange ideas, build relationships, and engage in CBT networks. The supportive mechanisms model for CBT administration is established to suggest guidelines for sustainable CBT development. Of the four mechanisms, the first involves building sibling-like collaborative relationships among CBT operators to reduce competition. Subsequently, the remaining mechanisms involve elements to expand CBT collaborations. These include tourism mapping, integrated marketing and technology, and CBT operational standard reinforcing. This study’s implication can be one steppingstone toward self-reliant networks and sustainable CBT development.

The Role of Religious Belief in Sustainable Community-Based Tourism During Postdisaster Recovery

There is a widely held view that religious beliefs are irrelevant during recovery postdisaster. Such recovery is often associated with an attitude of traumatic victimhood focusing on rebuilding infrastructure. However, the role and involvement of local people needs to be considered when reconstructing damaged facilities in destinations that need new sources of sustainable livelihood. The current study addresses this issue by examining religious beliefs in disaster recovery sites from the perspective of processes, factors, and implications. Three disaster zones in Yogyakarta, Indonesia are investigated, deploying an extended case study approach. The findings indicate that religious beliefs had the strongest and most significant influence on sustainable community-based tourism through the recovery process. The research procedure was applied in three tourist villages: the bamboo garden market, the disaster museum, and dome houses. Disaster victims are affected by religious beliefs and local wisdom and are supported by local heroes who encourage them to pursue new income sources. This generates employment through roles in managed tourist villages, such as tour guide, parking guard, travel agent, and tourism entrepreneur. The research highlights the role of religious belief as a mechanism for postdisaster recovery and draws upon natural prevention in contributing to gaps in discourse about ecological law.

THE DYNAMICS OF THE STATUS OF BOROBUDUR TEMPLE AND THE POTENTIAL FOR DEVELOPING COMMUNITY-BASED RELIGIOUS TOURISM

This study investigates the complex interplay of factors influencing the status of the Borobudur Temple, a significant cultural heritage site in Indonesia. It examines its potential for fostering community-based religious tourism. Through an interdisciplinary lens, the study explores the historical, socio-cultural, and religious dimensions shaping the temple's significance and its evolving status within the contemporary context. It analyses the intricate relationship between the preservation of the temple's religious and historical value and the development of sustainable community-based tourism initiatives. Through literature reviews, this paper highlights the challenges and opportunities associated with balancing preservation efforts and promoting tourism activities that benefit local communities. Additionally, it underscores the importance of engaging various stakeholders, including local communities, religious authorities, government agencies, and tourism organizations, in fostering a collaborative approach to sustainable tourism development. Within the socio-religious approach, the framework emphasizes the need for a comprehensive strategy that respects the religious sanctity of the site, promotes cultural heritage preservation, and ensures the equitable distribution of economic benefits to the surrounding communities. The findings aim to contribute to formulating effective policies and strategies that promote the sustainable development of community-based religious tourism while safeguarding the cultural and religious significance of the Borobudur Temple.

Toward sustainable community-based tourism development: Perspectives from local people in Nhon Ly coastal community, Binh Dinh province, Vietnam.

Community-based tourism (CBT) is no longer a new form in many countries, including Vietnam. However, the approach of CBT in a sustainable manner, especially in coastal villages, where tourism has recently emerged as an alternative livelihood, has received little attention. This study explores the impact of tourism on the lives of the local community, the level of people's participation in tourism, and the challenges of tourism development in the coastal commune of Nhon Ly, Binh Dinh province. By utilizing a qualitative method such as observation and semi-structured interviews with 19 villagers engaged in tourism, the results show that tourism contributes significantly to the lives of the residents in Nhon Ly (e.g., improving income, changing livelihoods from fishing to tourism, improving environmental awareness). However, tourism development has obstacles related to local people's skills and knowledge working in tourism and their limited participation in tourism policy and planning. Other issues were related to the negative impacts of tourism on cultural-social and environmental aspects in Nhon Ly. Therefore, there is a need for comprehensive coordination among all tourism stakeholders, building long-term strategies to overcome barriers toward sustainable CBT development in the future.

Strategies to promote sustainable community tourism development in Casas Viejas Commune, Manabí, Ecuador

This study investigates strategies to promote sustainable development of community-based tourism in Comuna Casas Viejas. Community-based tourism aims to enhance local quality of life through participation and equitable income distribution. However, the community has faced economic challenges due to deteriorating tourism infrastructure. This article proposes strategies to address these issues. The influence of key stakeholders such as local institutions, governments, and organizations was analyzed. Additionally, benefits in economic, environmental, and socio-cultural domains were examined. Citizen participation was deemed essential for decision-making and community integration. To revitalize tourism, infrastructure restoration and sustainable waste management and conservation practices are suggested. Collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organizations is paramount to ensure long-term success. It is concluded that the effective implementation of these strategies can contribute to economic recovery, environmental conservation, and the strengthening of local cultural identity. Collaboration among the community, institutions, and external actors is crucial to achieving sustainable community-based tourism in Comuna Casas Viejas. This study offers a holistic approach to addressing community-based tourism challenges and can serve as a guide for other communities interested in developing sustainable and beneficial tourism practices for all stakeholders involved.

Research on sustainability in community-based tourism: a bibliometric review and future directions

ABSTRACT Over three decades, community-based tourism and sustainable tourism have emerged as innovative approaches to tourism development. Yet, only limited reviews have been conducted. Using VOSviewer software, this bibliometric review analyzed 869 Scopus-indexed documents on sustainable community-based tourism for research insights. The study suggests the recent trend has shifted from developed toward developing countries. Research foci include tourist and resident satisfaction, the effects of sustainable community-based tourism on economic growth, stakeholder participation and decision-making, and heritage conservation. Future research directions are suggested with a focus on post-pandemic resilience and the contributions of community-based tourism toward global sustainable development goals.

Tourist walkability and sustainable community-based tourism: conceptual framework and strategic model

PurposeThis paper aims to determine the significance of tourist walkability on three community-based tourism sustainability indicators, namely, the economic, social and environmental benefits and costs impacting community’s quality of life through the lens of the triple bottom line approach with the institutional theory.Design/methodology/approachThis study views institutions as either enabling or restricting the sustainable community-based tourism because institutions influence resource integration and value assessment by the beneficiary. Moreover, institutions also lead the co-creation of sustainable community-based tourism among various stakeholders. Drawing on this conceptualisation, the notion of sustainable community-based tourism is filtered through the lens of institutional theory. Thus, this work approaches sustainable community-based tourism as a dynamic process of co-creating a tourist destination formed by different actors’ and institutions within the ecosystem of the tourist destination. Meanwhile, the triple bottom line benefits and costs experienced by the overall community would produce net effects on the residents’ perceptions of sustainable tourism.FindingsThis paper classifies both tangible and intangible costs and benefits because of tourist walkability and its triple bottom line trade-offs experienced by tourists and residents. This paper penetrates new grounds by reviewing the triple bottom line impacts of tourist walkability on residents’ quality of life. Government policies as mediating variable and national culture and individual personalities of tourists and residents as moderating variables were discussed. A conceptual framework named Tourist Walkability Sustainable Tourism Impact on Residents (TWSTIR) is proposed. Finally, a Sustainable Community-based Tourism Strategic (SCBTS) model which is based on the two dimensions of intensity of tourist walkability and residents’ quality of life is proposed.Research limitations/implicationsResearch limitations may include a lack of assessment on political, technological and legal issues, and therefore, future research is warranted in these three areas. Some emotions and attitudes of the residents may not be captured since the Gross National Index (Gross National Happiness) may have its inherent blind spots.Practical implicationsThis paper would be of interest to the scholarly world, as its original idea and concluding research agenda are burrowing into a new sub-field of tourism research. In view of growth and degrowth of sustaining community-based tourism, the SCBTS model is presented to provide directions for tourism policymakers and entrepreneurs to formulate and implement appropriate strategy for the tourist walkability activity per se and investment in the accompanying infrastructure.Social implicationsThis paper also presents the sacrifices and inequities in the communities and the relevance of government policies, national culture and individual personalities of tourists and residents, in which the attention of tourism policymakers and the communities that thrive on the travel and tourism industry should not be neglected.Originality/valueThe idea and discussion of this paper is original. This paper burrows into a new sub-field of tourism research. Tourist walkability needs more attention from the scholars, as this tourist activity can have positive and negative effects on residents’ quality of life. The TWSTIR framework is developed to discuss the relationships of tourist walkability, triple bottom line concept and residents’ quality of life within the sustainable community-based tourism scope. The SCBTS model is presented for tourism policymakers and entrepreneurs to perform appropriate strategy for the tourist walkability activity and investment in the accompanying infrastructure.

Unpacking Key Sustainability Drivers for Sustainable Social Enterprises: A Community-Based Tourism Perspective

This study unpacked the key sustainability drivers for successful social enterprises or community-based tourism enterprises (CBTEs), based on a study of a Thailand’s Best Responsible Tourism award-winner at Sapphaya Community in Chai Nat Province. Using a grounded-theory qualitative case study, our key research objective is to gain insights into how community and enterprise leaders of a national award-winning CBTE in Thailand can generate value by revalorizing its cultural heritage and local assets to achieve sustainable community-based tourism. The research also explores how the CBTE can increase local engagement with multi-stakeholders. Our findings indicated two key sustainability drivers, including leadership and local engagement, for sustainable social enterprises. An emergent model of leadership and local engagement in driving the sustainability of CBTEs is proposed. It implies an importance of CBTE leadership as a critical factor that helps preserve community endowments (e.g., historical sites and cultural heritage) as well as develops social capital. The local engagement with a good sense of ownership and community participation is the key enabler toward sustainable tourism. The results also suggest how-to processes in cultivating sustainable social enterprises in practice and toward policy implications.

Fostering Sustainable Community-Based Tourism in Marine and Coastal Regions: Examining the Influence of Destination Social Responsibility on Environmentally Responsible Behavior, Mediated by Destination Image

The study aims to explores the impact of Destination Social Responsibility (DSR) and Destination Image (DI) on Environmentally Responsible Behaviour (ERB)-based tourism. This study collected data using the convenience sampling method, specifically through a survey administered to residents in a community of marine parks. Initially, a total of 300 questionnaires were distributed, resulting in the return of 200 completed surveys. After removing incomplete surveys, a total of 195 usable questionnaires have been included in the analysis.Given that the study employed composite measures and focused on predictive as well as explanatory purposes, the researchers utilized Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM 4) to test the developed model. Moreover, the findings suggest that DSR positively influenced both ERB and DI. However, DI did not significantly impact ERB and did not act as a mediator between DSR as well as ERB. The findings show the local population’s involvement entails mitigating detrimental environmental impacts in coastal and marine areas.The local community, as a key stakeholder in a tourism destination, plays a significant role in promoting sustainable tourism growth in the area.The study offers valuable insights for destination management organizations as well as stakeholders in formulating environmental policies to promote sustainable development in Redang’s community.

Equality Model for Developing Community Tourism (A Case Study of Kadingeh Tourism Village in Enrekang Regency, South Sulawesi)

The considerable discussion of the issues of cultural diver-sity and biodiversity in the context of community-based tourism development. A variety of solutions have been proposed in the sustainable tourism literature to protect a local culture and the natural environment from change. Kadingeh is a village in Enrekang Regency, South Sulawe-si. The area has a number of geological resources and is a developing tourism destination which is implementing sustainable community-based tourism. The culture and natural conditions are undeveloped but recent plans to develop the area as a tourist destination has caused conflict between residents. If this conflict continues it will lead to ”damage” to the culture and nature due to a lack of lack of coordinated management control. A qualitative research approach was used to collect in-depth interviews with 54 informants from 33 local communities, as well as six gov-ernment representatives, eight academics, and four tourism entrepreneurs. The results of this study were used to create a model to guide future development. This model was called EQUALITY (Environment awareness, Quality of resources, Uniformity of action, Aligned programs, Link-age stakeholders, Integrity of leaders, Timeline of planning and implementation, and Youth and woman involvement). The model is useful for development of community-based tourism in Indonesia.
 Keywords: Equality Model; Geotourism; Rural Tourism; Kadingeh Tourism Village

Yurt Invited: Combining Tourists and Stakeholders Perceptions of Sustainable Community-Based Tourism in Central Asia

Community-based tourism represents an opportunity for sustainable socioeconomic development, helping local populations to emerge out of lower living conditions. This paper investigates the perceptions of tourists and stakeholders engaged in Community-Based Tourism (CBT) in Central Asian countries (including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan) as an opportunity for sustainable development. This study’s purpose is to point out the usefulness of a combination approach of stakeholders’ and tourists’ perceptions to address the opportunities of CBT that can improve the quality of life of the tourism community in Central Asia by identifying the pitfalls of practices and determining challenges for tourism policy. Using a mixed-method approach, two complementary methodologies are simultaneously conducted. (1) An in-depth interview approach with sixteen selected experts in the region was processed with semantic network analysis for the definition of the main challenges and opportunities facing CBT as an enabler of sustainable development, considering the perceptions of sustainability from the point of view of stakeholders. (2) An online survey involving one hundred twenty-five tourists to the region was carried out to focus on tourists’ perceptions of sustainability. A structural equation modelling technique was used to identify the influence of tourists’ sustainability preferences and their involvement with local communities on sustainability perceptions. The results highlight the benefits the community receives, as well as future opportunities to obtain more advantages from tourism practices within the scope of sustainable tourism planning.

Planning Sustainable Community-Based Tourism in the Context of Thailand: Community, Development, and the Foresight Tools

Community-Based Tourism (CBT) has been heavily promoted in Thailand, particularly in rural communities. Tourism transforms the natural and culturally significant attractions of rural communities into consumer products. Tourism development also makes a direct connection between tourism and the community. Therefore, before starting a tourism development project, the interests of local residents need to be investigated and allowances made for their inclusion. This paper introduces foresight tools, community arts, and a community goal-setting technique for putting the authority of future tourism development in the hands of the local community, which is appropriate for tourism development in rural Thailand. This study aims to give the local community useful tools to design their own future development by helping its members develop an understanding of what tourism is and how it impacts their community. A series of inclusive workshops was used to emphasize the need to understand the opportunities and repercussions of tourism as a community, what is at stake, and how important it is to participate in development projects. This methodology was chosen to advance the community members’ ability to generate ideas about what kind of tourism products the community has the potential to develop. Furthermore, it aims to get locals to understand that tourism development is more than just getting that development started. Reaching their future goals requires continuing their tourism activities. Therefore, the two workshops we held advocated community arts and community goal-setting techniques as foresight tools to empower communities to design their future and gave support to those communities to improve the quality of their participation in tourism.

New complex proportional assessment approach using Einstein aggregation operators and improved score function for interval-valued Fermatean fuzzy sets

As a generalization of the Fermatean fuzzy set, the theory of interval-valued Fermatean fuzzy set (IVFFS) is a more robust and reliable tool to address the imprecise and incomplete information in the process of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM), thus can be employed on wider range of applications. The aim of this study is to purpose a novel decision-making approach by combining two well-recognized methods, named as the criteria interaction through inter-criteria correlation (CRITIC) and the complex proportional assessment (COPRAS) with IVFFSs. In this line, to compare the interval-valued Fermatean fuzzy numbers (IVFFNs), a new score function is proposed and its feasibility in comparison with existing interval-valued Fermatean fuzzy score and accuracy functions is discussed. To combine the various IVFFNs, some interval-valued Fermatean fuzzy Einstein aggregation operators are introduced. Further, the CRITIC is utilized to derive the objective weights of attributes within IVFFS context. To prioritize the alternatives, the IVFF-COPRAS method is presented on IVFFSs settings. Later, to assess the performance quality of the developed methodology, an illustrative case study is discussed to evaluate and rank the sustainable community-based tourism (CBT) location candidates. Moreover, the comparative study and sensitivity investigation are conducted to prove that the developed framework efficiently handles the problem of sustainable CBT locations evaluation and selection problem under IVFFSs environment. The findings of this study conclude that the developed method is a systematic, more comprehensive, accurate, and structured approach in the assessment of sustainable CBT locations under uncertain environment.

Community cultural development: Exploring the connections between collective art making, capacity building and sustainable community-based tourism

To avoid tourism becoming an extractive industry, communities must develop capacity to participate and assume ownership of decision-making processes for it. This article explores the connections among community-based cultural practices, individual and community capacity and sustainable tourism. Along with personal observation and review of relevant archival data, we conducted interviews with a sample of individuals from a community cultural development organization in a single industry town in Central Appalachia. Our case analysis suggested that Community Cultural Development methods can enhance community capacity and the sustainability of tourism by increasing residents' effective participation in decision-making, encouraging locals' partnership in, and ownership of, tourism projects and providing space for negotiating the tourist gaze in guest-host relationships.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, KEARIFAN LOKAL TRI HITA KARANA, DAN PARIWISATA BERBASIS MASYARAKAT BERKELANJUTAN

This study explores how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) based on local wisdom ‘tri hita karana’ are implemented to develop a sustainable community-based tourism. This study uses a qualitative case study approach conducted at Sangeh Monkey Forest (MF) tourism object. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews and then analyzed by using coding and themeing technique. This research indicates that Sangeh MF tourism object implemented CSR in three major areas, namely: 1. Social (people and ‘pawongan’ in ‘tri hita karana’); 2. Environment (planet and ‘palemahan’ in ‘tri hita karana’); 3. CSR related to business operation and religious activities (profit and ‘parahyangan’ in ‘tri hita karana’). CSR based on ‘tri hita karana’ principles were also implemented through participation of local community in managing the tourism object. All income generated from the operational of tourism object were given back to the community. The informant of this study perceived CSR as socially responsible business practices and as philanthropic actions. This research offers an insight into how CSR could be implemented based on local wisdom ‘tri hita karana’ to develop a sustainable community-based tourism object. Several recommendations on how to further improve CSR practices by integrating business, social, and environment goals are also offered.

Enhancing the role of tourism governance to improve collaborative participation, responsiveness, representation and inclusion for sustainable community-based tourism: a case study

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore under-addressed issues of collaborative participation, decision-making, representation and inclusion in tourism governance in the twin cities of Bryan-College Station in Texas, USA. The study demonstrated that improved tourism governance has the potential to address underrepresented issues and contribute to sustainable community-based tourism (SCBT) success. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 40 tourism business owners/managers, key persons in cultural/community organizations, tourism associations, government officials and backstage staff (mainly ethnic minorities) to explore key issues relating to governance, collaborative participation and responsiveness relating to tourism development. Findings It was found that a collaborative decision-making process existed with significant opportunities for listening to various stakeholders with the majority being happy with how the governing agencies responded to them. However, some expressed concerns regarding participation in decision-making processes, the inclusion of their voices and issues of low job representation. These suggest the need for enhancing collaborative participation, representation and decision-making. Guided by the theory and results of the study, recommendations for more collaborative, responsive and inclusive governance have been suggested. Originality/value As one of the few studies exploring the under-addressed issues in tourism governance in SCBT operations, the study is believed to hold significance from the perspectives of sustainable tourism development.

Developing a new framework for conceptualizing the emerging sustainable community-based tourism using an extended interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy SWARA-MULTIMOORA

During these years, the sustainable Community-Based Tourism (CBT) notion has received more attention in the context of the tourism industry. Sustainable CBT mainly emphasizes social, environmental, and cultural sustainability and gives power to local communities in any aspect of tourism management. This manuscript aims to propose a novel approach to examine the current status of sustainable CBT in the Indian Himalayan region context. In this regard, a comprehensive framework was developed using experts’ opinions, and the relevant literature in tourism studies was reviewed based on sustainable CBT. To this end, this study proposed an integrated decision-making method using Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) and MULTIMOORA (Multiple Objective Optimization based on the Ratio Analysis plus Full Multiplicative Form) under Interval-Valued Pythagorean Fuzzy Sets (IVPFSs). Additionally, some comparisons were discussed with the outcomes obtained from the developed approach and those of extant ones to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed model. To confirm the applicability of the proposed IVPF-SWARA-MULTIMOORA approach to real-world decision-making problems, a sustainable CBT problem was considered as a case study. The final results confirmed the efficiency of the proposed approach as well as its consistency with the existing ones.

Development of Sustainable Community-Based Tourism in Kampong Grangsil, Jambangan Village, Dampit District, Malang Regency

Development of Sustainable Community-Based Tourism in Kampong Grangsil, Jambangan Village, Dampit District, Malang Regency

Augmenting the Role of Tourism Governance in Addressing Destination Justice, Ethics, and Equity for Sustainable Community-Based Tourism

Sustainable tourism development (STD) serves as a founding and guiding concept that can be applied to all forms of tourism, whereas community-based tourism (CBT) has been largely practiced as an alternative form of tourism development. Past research has suggested critical theoretical and practical omissions in both STD and CBT related to issues of community well-being, justice, ethics, and equity. With an objective of bridging these gaps, this research developed an integrated framework of sustainable community-based tourism (SCBT) based on a comprehensive literature review, which identified that there was a significant under-representation of key elements such as justice, ethics, and equity in the domain of governance both in the STD and CBT literatures. The qualitative research mixed emergent data with theory driven data and conducted semi-structured interviews with 40 diverse tourism stakeholders in the twin cities of Bryan–College Station (BCS) in Texas. Results revealed that tourism helped to promote cultural preservation and community pride and promoted the sense of mutual respect and understanding among visitors and stakeholders. However, some ethnic minorities felt they were not receiving full benefits of tourism. The study concluded that a more proactive, inclusive, ethic of care oriented tourism governance to help ensure sustainable tourism development is needed.