Political challenges in community-based ecotourism

This paper applies the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) to explore the development of ecotourism in a Taiwanese community after a major earthquake. The study employs interviews with different NGO groups and residents, participant-observation and documentary analysis. Through a political economy lens, the study examines the social and political influences on, and the social and political consequences of, ecotourism development. Results reveal insights into political elements of the community asset base, calling for its inclusion in the existing model. The paper illustrates the challenges of ecotourism development and recognises the importance of attention to differing values if it is to be considered as a sustainable livelihood option in vulnerable communities. In particular we critique the positions of both existing power structures and NGOs, often envisioned as “experts” in the tourism governance process. In this case the imposition of various political values led to failures in inclusivity, particularly in terms of goal setting, empowerment, leadership, organisational fragmentation and benefit sharing, all of which are important principles of sustainability. Greater attention to the political nature of community-based tourism through the revised SLA model could reduce the many documented cases of hosts being merely objects of development, rather than active subjects.     

Assessment of the changing levels of livelihood assets in the Kampong Phluk community with implications for community-based ecotourism

In recent years, international attention has been rendered to development of ecotourism for poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation. We assessed local livelihood assets in Kampong Phluk Community before and after the introduction of the community-based ecotourism (CBET) governance system, where it was previously under the private company management system (SEAPAC). We used a sustainable livelihood framework to assess natural, physical, human, social, and financial assets by analyzing a set of panel data of 150 observations according to the scoring scale of zero (total dissatisfaction) to one (total satisfaction). We found that full implementation of CBET raised the overall average score of livelihood assets by 0.15. In particular, physical capital and human capital achieved remarkable growth by 0.25 to 0.23, respectively, while growth in natural capital and financial capital was statistically insignificant. Although CBET showed promising results, improving communication and providing community health care would motivate active participation in ecotourism development.     

A Community-Based Tourism Model: Its Conception and Use

Community participation in the tourism planning process is advocated as a way of implementing sustainable tourism. There are, however, few studies that detail tangible and practical ways to promote or measure participation. This paper reviews the principal theories used to discuss community participation, including the ‘ladder of citizen participation’, power redistribution, collaboration processes and social capital creation. These theories form the basis for defining a community-based tourism (CBT) model. The paper shows how this model can be used to assess participation levels in a study site, and suggests further actions required. The model is applied in a case study in Palawan, the Philippines, where an indigenous community previously initiated a community-based ecotourism project. The project resulted in a number of problems, including conflicts with non-indigenous stakeholders. The model identifies the current situation of the project and provides suggestions for improvement.     

Community-based tourism,social capital,and governance of post-conflict rural tourism destinations: the case of Minca,Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta,Colombia

Community-based tourism (CBT) in Colombia was identified as a strategy to reduce rural poverty and social inequalities in regions affected by political violence. The objectives of CBT are met through community and multilevel governance. Strong social capital is a necessary condition to meet such objectives. This article contributes to the theoretical and empirical analysis of the relationships among community-based tourism, social capital and governance in post-conflict contexts. Based on a set of indicators to measure social capital, and economic, sociocultural and environmental benefits perceived by the community, the case study in Minca, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia), demonstrates that tourism barely benefits communities when there is insufficient social capital and unstructured governance due to the low presence of the government. Despite the existence of legislation favorable to the empowerment of peripheral communities, rulers lack the political incentives to strengthen the social capital required for the development of community-based tourism.     

Comparing levels of resident empowerment among two culturally diverse resident populations in Oizumi,Gunma, Japan

While resident empowerment has been a central aspect of the sustainable tourism literature, difficulties of putting the concept into practice have been noted given the heterogeneous nature of communities. “Community” is often divided by kinship, age, gender and ethnicity, and such division may influence the perceptions of empowerment. The goal of this study was to better understand heterogeneous perceptions of empowerment by administering the Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale within the community of Oizumi, Japan. Oizumi has the highest concentration of Brazilian immigrants in Japan, and the town has embraced “ethnic neighborhood tourism” centered on Brazilian culture as a strategy for economic development. Oizumi's demographic makeup allowed for testing differences in perceived empowerment between members of the dominant ethnic group (Japanese) and members of the ethnic minority group (Japanese Brazilians). Analysis of 650 completed questionnaires revealed that Brazilians felt more psychologically and socially empowered than Japanese residents, indicating a shift in the balance of power between the ethnic groups. Results also revealed that the political dimension of empowerment was rated relatively low among both groups, suggesting a general lack of opportunities to participate in the planning process. Implications for both practice and theory are presented.     

Local perspectives of ecotourism development in Tawushan Nature Reserve, Taiwan

This paper examines local responses to potential ecotourism development in the Tawushan Nature Reserve located in southeastern Taiwan. Community attitude and intention toward four dimensions of ecotourism, including conservation of natural resources, preservation of cultural tradition, sustainable community development, and participation in ecotourism planning and management, were measured. Furthermore, the paper examines whether or not there is congruence between community attitude and intention toward ecotourism development. Analysis is based on data collected using face-to-face questionnaire interviews in two indigenous communities consisting primarily of the Paiwan ethnic group. The study findings show that local people hold generally positive views of the measures necessary to achieve ecotourism; however, their intentions to engage in behaviors to support these measures do not entirely match with their positive views. This suggests that while local residents may support ecotourism development based on international guidelines, their intentions to act will depend on local environmental, social, and politico-economic conditions. It is suggested that issues related to community empowerment, relationship between government and communities, value conflicts introduced by ecotourism development, and the dynamics among and between various community groups will need to be addressed if positive community intention to participate in ecotourism is to be encouraged.     

The role of social capital in encouraging residents' pro-environmental behaviors in community-based ecotourism

This study integrated the theoretical perspective of social capital into community-based ecotourism (CBET). Two destinations were selected to test the conceptual model to see whether social capital improves cooperation between community residents and the coordination of CBET development, and whether its role is persuasive and encourages residents' pro-environmental behaviors. The sample consisted of 420 residents living in two typical ecotourism destinations in China. Findings from a two-stage structural equation model analysis show that economic benefits have a direct impact on residents' pro-environmental behaviors; and the cognitive, rather than structural social capital has a partially mediating effects on this relationship. These findings indicate that a high level of social capital, particularly the cognitive variant, is instrumental in encouraging residents' pro-environmental behaviors.     

Promoting Women's Empowerment Through Involvement in Ecotourism: Experiences from the Third World

In many parts of the Third World the number of local communities seeking involvement in ecotourism ventures has soared in the past decade. A cogent concern, from a development perspective, is that many such ventures have progressed with scant regard for the changes they may provoke in gender roles, gender relations and access to resources. As with other development initiatives which profess to be 'gender neutral', ecotourism runs the risk of disadvantaging and marginalising local women. This paper considers both positive and negative ways in which women are engaging with ecotourism enterprises in Third World contexts. Such examples could help to guide agencies which wish to find ways of facilitating local level empowerment of both men and women through ecotourism in the future.     

Indigenous and democratic decision-making: issues from community-based ecotourism in the Boumā National Heritage Park,Fiji

Participatory development literature involving community-based ecotourism management (CBEM) has only recently addressed issues pertaining to indigenous governance and decision-making systems. This paper contributes to sustainable tourism by presenting local decision-making practices and issues arising from the perspective of the members of one village in the Boumā National Heritage Park, Fiji. It shows that introduced democratic decision-making systems may not contribute to political empowerment in CBEM and can cause difficult situations. It is argued that greater attention to local systems of governance is required if tourism practitioners are to fully understand decision-making and participation in CBEM. The paper also offers a culturally appropriate methodology that may produce more meaningful outcomes for sustainable tourism research in indigenous Fijian contexts, and in other contexts worldwide. It argues that levels of empowerment should not just be treated as the outcome but as a part of the process of tourism development. It explores the core Fijian cultural concept of vanua as a way of life, involving interrelated social, ecological and spiritual elements. An emic perspective utilising informal talanoa (discussions) is used and examined, along with the roles of kin groups, village spokesmen and clan systems, and their relationship with western business decision-making practices.     

Gender and empowerment: assessing discrepancies using the resident empowerment through tourism scale

While gender equality and empowerment are core components of sustainable tourism, most of the literature has approached the concepts from qualitative perspectives, thus limiting the ability to empirically test for empowerment discrepancies between men and women. With this gap in mind, this study sought to test the widely held notion that empowerment discrepancies exist between men and women in tourism development. Discrepancies in psychological, social and political empowerment were tested for using the 12-item Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale (RETS). The RETS was administered across five sample populations, with results revealing that gender discrepancies were present, but surprisingly, not in the direction suggested in previous literature. In all three US samples, there was evidence that women were more likely to perceive themselves being empowered than men. The results from the two Japanese samples did not find any significant differences, which is of interest because Japan is traditionally seen a very patriarchal society. Applications of the RETS can be paired with qualitative research to better understand empowerment success stories and then to apply these best practices to other destinations where empowerment discrepancies are present. Future applications of the RETS are suggested to help initiate “gender mainstreaming” within the sustainable tourism literature.     

Indigenous legacy for building resilience: A case study of Taiwanese mountain river ecotourism

Tourist destinations as social-ecological systems face growing challenges to build resilience to cope with various disruptions. This research explores how disadvantaged Indigenous communities in Taiwan, especially those located in typhoon-sensitive and geologically fragile areas, developed resilience as tourist destinations. It applies empirical data from Indigenous River Closure, a movement which aims to develop river ecotourism and build resilience in the face of growing uncertainty. The research applies mixed methods, including in-depth interview, news-archive review, and participatory observation, with an intention for primary data and secondary data to complement one another.Based on the intertwined concepts of resilience, adaptability, transformability, and self-reorganization, the results show that River Closure initiated from within those communities (endogenous) seems to build greater resilience in ecotourism. At the same time, cases instigated by outsiders (exogenous) are not without potential to be successful, but there is a need to cautiously build consensus and increase capacity in the collaborative process with outside resources.The success of river ecotourism in a sensitive area depends on the level of social capital. It plays a key role in mobilizing community resources to adapt to uncertainty, reorganizing relations between the community and tourism development, and transforming River Closure from a community-based response to exploitation, to a robust Indigenous movement. However, while inherent social capital is proved to be a strong essence for community actions, it is becoming rare in modern society. Thus bolstering social capital is core to the exogenous approach for building resilience in the tourism sector.     

Relationships Among Perceived Value,Satisfaction, and Loyalty: Community-Based Ecotourism in Korea

Community-based ecotourism (CBE) is a significant segment of the rapidly growing tourism industry in Korea. This study examines the relationships among perceived value, satisfaction, and destination loyalty of CBE tourists in Korea. Data were collected from 254 visitors (aged 20 years and over) of six CBE villages. The Linear Structural Relationships (LISREL) statistical package was used for the analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis identified four dimensions of perceived value from 14 variables: economic, functional, emotional, and social. Through structural equation modeling (SEM), functional, social, and emotional value was found to have positive effects on overall value. Further, overall value and tourist satisfaction were a significant antecedent of destination loyalty. The empirical results indicate that a varied experiential program must be developed to increase the efficiency of CBE as a sustainable development tool.     

Building social capital in a divided city: the potential of events

Abstract

It is widely held that social capital can help build sustainable communities, yet researchers agree that further research is needed to fully understand the social dimensions of sustainable development. In event settings, understanding how social capital is formed remains limited. This paper addresses this issue by examining the extent to which the UK City of Culture 2013 (CoC13) succeeded in building social capital in post-conflict Derry/Londonderry. The authors adopted a case study approach and mixed qualitative methods in the form of in-depth interviews and focus groups. The findings suggest that CoC13 helped to generate both bonding and bridging social capital, however, while intra community bonds were strengthened, exclusivity was also fostered. More positive were the examples of bridging capital cultivated across communities, particularly between young attendees, and between event organisers, with cooperation building trust and goodwill between volunteers. Some of the cross community relationships developed have been sustained. However, the lack of legacy planning has meant that the long-term social goals have not been met. In summary, the study suggests that in a post conflict society, events can help build social capital. However, in the absence of legacy planning, the benefits gained may soon evaporate.     

Resources at the Grassroots of Recreation: Organizational Capacity and Quality of Experience in a Community Sport Organization

Grassroots recreation organizations are volunteer-run informal organizations that deliver sport and recreation at the local level. Using a qualitative case study approach, this study examined how the quality of experience in one community sport organization was affected by organizational capacity, or the ability of the organization to mobilize financial, human, and structural capital to fulfill its mission. While the volunteers mobilized social capital, the league experienced significant shortages of human capital including the professional competencies to meet increasingly complex administrative demands. This finding raises concerns about potential disenfranchisement of volunteers.     

旅游发展背景下政治不信任的形成因素及其影响

信任或者不信任的动态关系变化对于理解现代社会、社会关系和发展过程是十分重要的。信任可以影响到旅游发展的成功或者失败,但是旅游学者很少关注到信任话题。文章以广东汕尾红海湾为例,采用质性研究方法,分析旅游发展背景下政治不信任是如何形成的,又是如何进一步通过空间实践影响旅游发展的过程。研究发现,政治不信任受到权力关系、收益成本感知、政治经济绩效、人际信任和文化导向5个因素的影响,是在特定的制度环境、社会互动和历史文化的复杂关系中交织形成的。政治不信任的存在,使得地方政府与地方社区之间拒绝社会交换以及社会资本的断裂,增加了旅游政策运行成本,延缓了旅游发展进程。研究一方面把政治信任理论视角引入国内旅游研究,另一方面修订和补充了旅游发展与政治信任的理论框架,并提出对政治信任研究的批判性思考。研究有助于推动从旅游管理"过程"的关注向旅游开发"起点"的关注,即政治信任问题一定程度上先天奠定了旅游发展的成功或失败,这为当下旅游开发中的善治问题提供了实践参考。     

Female empowerment and tourism: a focus on businesses in a Fijian village

Women’s participation in business is gaining momentum amongst communities in the South Pacific, yet very few studies have explored this area in the context of tourism in Fiji. Based on ethnographic research, this study focuses on the gender dimension of community-based tourism development in Vatuolalai village, along with the Coral Coast of Fiji. In particular, this study seeks to extend our understanding of the links between female empowerment, tourism and business in this indigenous Fijian community. The paper discusses how indigenous Fijian women, through their involvement in tourism, have adapted to becoming successful business operators and influential drivers of socio-political change affecting established gender relations within an indigenous Fijian setting. Therefore, the current study argues that through tourism-based entrepreneurship, local women have attained not only economic but also psychological, social and political empowerment. Given the literature, this is not a mainstream result, particularly in patriarchal and embedded indigenous communities.     

Applying the community capitals framework to the craft heritage trails of western North Carolina

ABSTRACT

HandMade in America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of craft heritage, identified tourism as an economic development strategy for their service area, the North Carolina Appalachian Mountains. In 1996, HandMade released a guidebook, The Craft Heritage Trails of Western North Carolina, which was designed to draw visitors to rural mountain communities where they could discover artists among the surroundings where they draw inspiration. The book was updated in two subsequent additions, and a spin-off book Farms, Gardens, and Countryside Trails was released in 2002. This study utilizes the Community Capitals Framework (CCF) to illustrate how HandMade’s tourism strategy of trail development positively impacted multiple forms of community capital in rural communities. The CCF is a holistic system encompassing several forms of capital: natural, cultural, human, social, political, financial, and built. The results demonstrate the ripple effect of impacts of HandMade’s heritage trail development efforts.     

Tourism and environmental subjectivities in the Anthropocene: observations from Niru Village,Southwest China

ABSTRACT

The increasingly popular notion of Anthropocene urges us to reflect and review the role of the human, the Anthropos, as part of the planet earth. In this context, tourism has been singled out as a global industry that is driven by neoliberal economic principles and is inevitably intertwined in the production of the Anthropocene. At the same time, tourism has been adopted also as part of environmental governance and management, aiming for a more sustainable economy. Based on the idea that ecotourism contributes to the discourse of “nature” (and Anthropocene) disruptively as well as productively in unsettling the normative ideas of “nature” and “culture”, in this article I attempt to understand more specifically how ecotourism may enable individuals' subject formation in relation to the broader environmental discourse. Drawn on fieldwork in Niru Village, Shangri-La, Southwest China, I employ a political ecology approach and examine the ways individuals relate themselves to “nature”, through a process of negotiation and exchange with others engaged in ecotourism activities. The tourism encounters in Niru Village, therefore are also embodied encounters of different environmental subjectivities.     

Doing femininity and respectability: social networks and social capital among female members of Dutch student organisations

This research explores the complexities that underlie the formation of women’s social networks at traditional social student organisations in the Netherlands, advancing theory on the intersectionality of gender and class in leisure space. Building on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social capital it investigates if these social networks are segregated, and to what extent their divisions depend on previously acquired economic, cultural and symbolic capital. It analyses the hierarchical structures and ‘ranking’ of women’s year clubs within student organisations, and examines how the enactment and achievement of femininity determines women’s ability to move through social space. Finally, it investigates the use of social capital for women’s career progression. Semi-structured interviews were held with 20 women who were current or former members of one of the most traditional Dutch student organisations, the corps. Their accounts were used to gather information about the meaning women gave to their membership, and shed light on the role of previously acquired capital in the formation of clubs. Our findings show that women’s previously acquired social capital allowed them easier access to corps’ space and advanced their ability to navigate it. The establishment and ranking of year clubs and their members demonstrate the power dynamics that operate within the corps and the way class underlines network formation. Femininity was deemed one of the important markers of respectability and the enactment and achievement of ‘proper’ femininity determined women’s recognition and position in corps space. Despite the hierarchies of placement in the corps, most women profit from the social capital they acquired during membership, and can use it in selective ways for career progression and acquisitions.     

Community-based tourism ventures,benefits and challenges: Khama Rhino Sanctuary Trust,Central District,Botswana

The impact of Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) is seen by many as a ‘win-win’ situation with reference to natural resources conservation and the improvement of local communities' livelihoods. However, community engagements in CBNRM and tourism have elicited many views as far as natural resources utilization is concerned. Some affirm the importance of CBNRM; others question it, while others call for its improvement. The premise of this study is to investigate the benefits and challenges of community-based tourism in one community of Botswana. Results show that although some benefits have been identified, there remain many challenges for the Khama Rhino Sanctuary Trust (KRST). It is evident that for community-based tourism to bring more benefits for locals, more interaction is needed between them and the Trust management. Increased local involvement and participation will help to ensure that people are empowered and the conservation of natural resources takes place. This paper asserts that community-based ventures, if properly run and managed, can promote the conservation of natural resources and increase local benefits through participation in tourism activities.