What this lesson teaches
I can judge how well ecotourism, community-based tourism and pro-poor tourism achieve sustainable development.
Syllabus K226, Topic 2.3, Key Question 3. How effective are the different approaches in achieving sustainable tourism development?
Make a guess
An outside tour company runs boat trips from a fishing village and hires two villagers as boat crew. Is this community-based tourism?
- No, because it is too small to count as tourism.
- Yes, because villagers earn wages from it.
- Yes, because the trips start in the village.
- No. The villagers do not manage it.
Show the answer
No. The villagers do not manage it.
Community-based tourism means local people manage tourism and its benefits. Employing a few residents is not the same as giving them control.
Community-based tourism lets local people manage tourism and its benefits, but it still needs customers, skills and fair decisions.
In community-based tourism, local people manage tourism and decide how its benefits are used. It is often small. Examples include homestays, farm visits, local guiding and crafts. An outside company running tours in a village does not count.
Local management keeps more money in the community. Residents can set rules for visitors and choose what culture to share. Farm visits add to farm income.
These businesses still need skills, booking systems and safe facilities. They may struggle to compete with large tour firms that have more money and advertising. Partners can help them reach customers, but contracts must keep the community's right to decide.
Benefits can be uneven. Better-connected households may get more business. Visitor demand may push people to change cultural practices. Check who takes part, who decides and who benefits, instead of assuming every resident supports a project just because it is called community-based.
- Community-based tourism
- Local people manage tourism and its benefits.
- Examples
- Homestays, farm visits, guiding and crafts.
- Challenges
- Big-firm competition and uneven benefits.
Step by step
Check who decides
Who sets activities, prices and limits?
Follow the benefits
How do homestays or guiding create income?
Check the limits
Competition, skills and people left out.
Real examples to use
Mae Kampong, Thailand
Villagers in this hill village near Chiang Mai run homestays and tours together, so income from visitors goes to local families and the community.
Worked example: Banishanta, Bangladesh
UNDP's 2022 account describes a project in Banishanta, near the Sundarbans. It involves local food, crafts, performances and training. It shows how several local activities can serve visitors. It does not prove every household gained equally.
Watch out for this
Community-based tourism means everyone earns the same.
Skills, assets and decisions about shared funds can create different benefits.
Check your understanding
Which evidence best supports calling a project community-based tourism?
- The business uses village photos and local names in its adverts.
- Residents manage it and decide how the benefits are used.
- An outside company makes the decisions and hires local guides.
Show the answer
Residents manage it and decide how the benefits are used.
Yes. Local control is the key feature.
Check your understanding
Which feature makes a tourism project community-based?
- Local people manage it and decide how income is used.
- It employs local guides and cooks for a foreign tour company.
- It takes place in a village, among local homes.
Show the answer
Local people manage it and decide how income is used.
Control, not location, is the key.