This study examines how policy intervention strategies facilitate or constrain the construction of positive social capital in a community-based ecotourism (CBET) context. It investigates CBET development policies in a specific Cambodian case study, explores implementation processes, assesses the level of social capital created, identifies the connections between social capital construction and development outcomes, and suggests how the policies contribute to social capital construction. The dissertation's case study research is conducted in Chambok, Cambodia's longest operating CBET development. The social capital concept used in the dissertation assumes that CBET communities are comprised of dynamic active agents who play vital roles in determining their own destiny, provided they are provided with appropriate capabilities. Social capital is positioned as a conduit through which communities access the necessary resources needed to build the capabilities required to participate in CBET collaborations. The appropriate construction of social capital can trigger sustained CBET outcomes. In this dissertation, social capital is viewed as playing four major roles. It diffuses information; transfers knowledge; promotes collaboration and collective action; and harnesses power in the local communities. A multiple-method triangulated approach is used to examine CBET policies and development in Cambodia from the perspective of involved stakeholders. The information and model resulting from this research are designed to inform CBET collaborators, stakeholders and decision-makers about the significance of constructing positive social capital for the community; and the factors that affect its development. Overall, the research offers: 1) an insight into the effects of social interactions on CBET development; and 2) an approach to building appropriate CBET social capital. This research contributes to the theoretical and applied dimensions of existing knowledge concerning the role of CBET policies in a developing region context, and their effects on the building of community capabilities.
Tourism is one approach that is being promoted to bring socio-economic development to local people and to enhance conservation, especially in developing countries. Community-based Eco-tourism (CBET) seeks to link conservation, rural development and community participation in tourism development. It attempts to ensure that tourism development is managed and run by the community members. Moreover, CBET aims to protect the local environment and support local livelihoods by providing alternative income. In Cambodia, the government is supporting tourism as a strategy to reduce poverty. Research and evaluation of a CBET project aims to critically examine how this is happening on the ground in Chambok commune, adjacent to the Kirirom National Park. The research uses the Sustainable Livelihood Approach to provide a theoretical framework, an ethnographic approach, observations, semi-structured interviews and participatory workshops, to understand the local community, their culture and traditions, their relationship with the environment, and how ecotourism impacts on these and how they turn impact on ecotourism.
Throughout the world, local, natural wonders are being overrun by hordes of destination seekers intent on capturing nature’s majesty. Though the flood of tourists brings economic stability to these regions, the environmental and local community concerns must be taken into consideration. Ecotourism and Community Intervention: Emerging Research and Opportunities examines community intervention strategies and their causal relationship with destination sustainability and destination quality. The book calls for more proactive measures to enhance destination sustainability through ecotourism initiatives in destinations across the globe. The content within this publication examines global business, mass tourism, and resource management. It is designed for conservationists, environmentalists, tour developers, travel agents, policymakers, administrators, managers, and university students.
The negative impacts associated with conventional tourism has occasioned more sustainable forms of tourism including community-based tourism (CBT). Among the benefits of CBT are the improvement of rural economies, empowerment of the local community, and poverty alleviation. In as much as CBT has been promoted as being more beneficial to local communities, its implementation is not without challenges. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, destination marketing organizations and managers of CBT projects have to adopt different marketing strategies including shifting to target new demographics in an effort to remain sustainable. Prospects and Challenges of Community-Based Tourism and Changing Demographics provides theoretical and empirical insights in the prospects and challenges associated with CBT, critically examining issues of structure, impact, management, marketing, support, changing demographics, challenges, sustainability, and implications for the future of CBT. It also highlights critical lessons and trends in CBT from both established and new CBT initiatives to inform the design, management, marketing, and sustainability of CBT projects. This book will be a useful addition to the literature on CBT with its coverage of topics such as conservation, cultural tourism, and sustainable rural livelihoods. This book provides an excellent resource for students, academicians, researchers, tourism and hospitality practitioners, managers, destination managers, stakeholders, tour operators, and policymakers.
The book uses a multi-disciplinary approach to address lessons learned and challenges encountered over the years in different ecological, economic, political and cultural contexts. Protected areas were originally established as recreational spaces and to protect some components of nature; however, today they are also expected to provide an increasing range of benefits to an array of people. Protected areas no longer simply “protect” but they also provide ecosystem services and facilitate poverty reduction via local development, ecotourism, and sustainable resource use. Integrating tourism and conservation with existing local historical, socio-economic, and institutional landscapes is associated with the promotion of local community participation in resource management. The book adopts an interdisciplinary approach to understand social-ecological systems that explain the relationship between protected areas, tourism, and community livelihoods linkages. The book provides a platform for dialogue to develop a better understanding of the complex relationships between protected areas, tourism, and community livelihoods linkages. Due to the role tourism plays in poverty alleviation, conservation, empowerment and addressing other environmental and social challenges, the book also connects tourism with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars and policymakers of tourism, conservation, natural resource management, sustainable development as well as professionals and policymakers involved in conservation policy. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Sustainable Tourism.
Protected areas (PAs) are changing rapidly in size and scope with the influx of development activities intended to benefit people living within and near their borders. In developing countries, integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs), which include ecotourism, are expanding into environmentally fragile areas where remote local and indigenous people live. However, decades of research cite the inability of ICDPs to reach their full potential, suggesting that they do not adequately balance human livelihoods with natural resource conservation. Protected area stakeholder relationships in countries undergoing modernisation and democratisation, and local, indigenous perceptions of project development in relation to social and ecological wellbeing are two largely under-explored areas of research in conservation and ecotourism. Developing a better understanding of approaches to PA conservation and development is critical given the increasing evidence of global ecosystem degradation due to anthropogenic activities and, unless changes are made to policies, institutions and practices, the continued, uneven and detrimental impacts on poor people. The purpose of this doctoral research is to explore the impacts of ecotourism on the wellbeing of human societies and nature in remote PAs, and the connections between community-level ecotourism and other development initiatives to broader PA policies and practices. The study pursues three research objectives: (1) to critically examine stakeholder relations in PA conservation; (2) to identify and assess indigenous perceptions of ecotourism and wellbeing in relation to ecotourism development; and (3) to refine and apply an integrative framework of wellbeing to empirically investigate the ways in which ecotourism enhances or constrains social-ecological sustainability in developing areas. This research was conducted through a case study of three local, indigenous PA communities in the Merak-Sakteng region of Bhutan. Data were collected through unstructured interviews (n=20); community (n=68) and non-community (n=50) semi-structured interviews; focus groups (n=6); literature review and document analysis; participant observations; and debriefing sessions (n=4). An empirical analysis of stakeholder relations first examined the progress and outcomes of two recent development projects, revealing that indigenous communities face specific socio-cultural challenges that could benefit from operational adjustments and new approaches. The buen vivir (living well) perspective was then used to analyse indigenous perceptions of ecotourism and wellbeing and the influence of socio-cultural factors, which illustrated the significant links between nature and indigenous cosmologies, socio-cultural values and spiritual beliefs that can impact ecotourism development and local PA governance. Lastly, a social-ecological wellbeing framework was developed to assess subjective, socio-relational, material and ecological dimensions of wellbeing in communities. The framework emphasised the importance of social-relational aspects of wellbeing and their connection to declining ecological conditions, the capacity of power relations between stakeholders to bring about wellbeing, and the constant trade-offs between wellbeing dimensions regarding justice and authority at the local level. This thesis refines an integrative framework of wellbeing to assess social-ecological sustainability by uniting theoretical perspectives from development studies (social wellbeing, buen vivir) and social-ecological systems, and empirically demonstrates the insights to be gained from adopting a multi-dimensional approach to wellbeing in ecotourism development projects. It offers a theoretical and methodological application of the buen vivir perspective to understand and analyse wellbeing in tourism scholarship through a biocentric, communal and culturally sensitive worldview. The dissertation makes an empirical contribution to research in terrestrial ecosystems in the context of Bhutan and provides much needed perspectives on wellbeing from a mountain environment. Moreover, the research findings contribute to broader debates around parks and conservation, indicating the need for more progressive social conservation science and practice, and support for participatory and collaborative governance approaches between local and indigenous communities and external PA stakeholders. These contributions, while situated in the context of Bhutan, are relevant for other development projects and terrestrial PAs around the world.
This book approaches the field of social transformation from an ecotourism perspective. It unpacks the development of thought around social innovation as well as eco-tourism. After introducing various definitions and concept of social innovation and social entrepreneurship, the book then goes on to assess the current state of the environment and tourism leading into the discussion of how ecotourism social entrepreneurship can transform the industry for the better by analyzing five ecotourism case studies from Malaysia. Going beyond ecotourism social entrepreneurship in industry-specific contexts, the book serves as invitation to more participatory debate in academia in the field of social innovation and social entrepreneurship.
To meet the rising demand for scientific evidence in the context of rural tourism research, this book explores tourism and tourism-related diversification activities performed by farming households and entrepreneurs in rural communities. To do so it adopts a consistent conceptual and empirical microeconomic approach and employs econometric methodology. Community-based rural tourism (CBRT) is attracting increasing interest in both developed and developing countries, since tourism is considered an effective way to promote rural development in all parts of the globe. Further, because information and communication technologies are developing rapidly, new types of communities are now formed more easily than ever. As such, this book covers not only traditional, closed agrarian communities, but also emerging communities formed by local nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and national networks of farmers who provide educational tourism for consumers. These emerging communities are beyond the range of traditional agrarian communities and complement each other, which helps overcome obstacles to rural tourism for farm operators and urban residents. Those communities also nurture the rural entrepreneurship that eventually will create a sustainable urban–rural relationship. This study—the first of its kind—contributes to the advancement of research on rural tourism from a microeconomic perspective. It presents a conceptual framework for understanding rural tourism from a microeconomic perspective; empirically clarifies the specific issues and constraints for the development of CBRT; and also investigates how to overcome these issues.
