What is Community Based Tourism?
There is no one agreed definition of Community Based Tourism (CBT) but one that is often quoted comes from The Thailand Community Based Tourism Institute:
“CBT is tourism that takes environmental, social and cultural sustainability into account. It is managed and owned by the community, for the community, with the purpose of enabling visitors to increase their awareness and learn about the community and local ways of life.” (REST Project, 1997)
Community based tourism (CBT) is often seen as the social dimension of eco tourism whereby the local community becomes custodians of its environment: the community is expected to have a substantial control over its development, and derive a major proportion of the financial benefits that it attracts.
The concept of CBT though is itself multi-faceted and just as there is no one definition so there is no one perfect model. A paper by Harold Goodwin & Rosa Santilli (2009) posed the question “Community-Based Tourism: a success?” and used 6 broad measures:
Social Capital and Empowerment
Conservation/Environment
Improved Livelihoods and Standard of Living
Local Economic Development
Commercial Viability
Collective Benefits
The report concluded that there was no universal agreement on what made for a successful project and that: ‘It is evident from the surveys that there is no agreement about the meaning of CBT and that whenever the words are used the meaning needs to be made clear.”
In practice community-based tourism allows travellers an opportunity to spend time in local communities, and learn about their way of life, their environment, and their culture. It creates opportunities for a cross-cultural experience that goes beyond a financial transaction.
As The Thailand Community Based Tourism Institute handbook says: “CBT….does not seek to address the question: ‘How can communities benefit more from tourism?’. It seeks instead to address a different, developmental question: “How can tourism contribute to the process of community development?”….. CBT is not simply a tourism business that aims at maximizing profits for investors. Rather, it is more concerned with the impact of tourism on the community and environmental resources.”
Crucially the handbook goes on to say: “CBT is far from a perfect, prepackaged solution to community problems. Nor is it a miracle cure or a knight in shining armor that will come to save the community. In fact, if carelessly applied, CBT can cause problems and bring disaster.”
It is for this reason that we have carefully selected our partners for the delivery of our community-based tourism experiences. It is a fundamental requirement that the local community is heavily involved in the projects and that, as far as possible, the following principles are followed:
Recognize, support and promote community ownership of tourism;
Involve community members from the start in every aspect;
Promote community pride;
Improve the quality of life;
Ensure environmental sustainability;
Preserve the unique character and culture of the local area;
Foster cross-cultural learning;
Respect cultural differences and human dignity;
Distribute benefits fairly among community members;
Contribute a fixed percentage of income to community projects;
Source: The Thailand Community Based Tourism Institute
It is important for us that the experience is a win-win-win for all stakeholders. The residents of each featured community has the opportunity to earn an income perhaps as land or facility managers, entrepreneurs, service and produce providers, and employees. Tourists can discover local habitats and wildlife, and experience traditional cultures and rituals. The community as a whole will understand and appreciate that their natural and cultural heritage has a value and will work to conserve it.
It is of course very easy to get caught up in academic debate about what makes for a good community-based project; but our ultimate aim in promoting such tours is to positively affect communities one person at a time.
The definition that we like then is a simple one adapted from that used by a non-government body in Sri Lanka, Sarvodaya:
“Community-based tourism is sharing the natural and cultural resources of a local community with visitors from home and overseas for the sustainable benefit of that local community whilst conserving the natural environment and respecting the way of life.’