This contribution suggests that community-based tourism (CBT) can create commercial and social value to destinations, local businesses as well as to residents. At the same time, it clarifies that CBT offers rich, immersive cultural experiences that can enhance the tourists' experiences when visiting different communities. It posits that sustainable CBT approaches can improve the local economic development (LED) of communities by reducing economic leakages from the tourism industry. It explains that there is scope for destination managers and tourism businesses to engage in sustainable tourism practices and to utilize local resources, in a strategic manner, in order to maximize linkages in their economy. In conclusion, this paper puts forward a theoretical model that clearly illustrates the business case to implement sustainable CBT strategies. It also implies that these strategies can ultimately result in opportunities for economic growth of tourism businesses and may increase the competitiveness of destinations, whilst safeguarding the environment and addressing their carrying capacities.

This article proposes a general community‐based tourism (CBT)‐oriented framework that could be used as a guideline by policymakers dealing with tourism development in small islands. It investigates fundamental issues related to tourism and advances possible solutions utilizing a specific form of alternative tourism within a sustainable tourism context that considers the well‐being of the local population, especially the disadvantaged sector of society. As such, the article captures recurrent critical issues relating to tourism and proposes a model that represents various elements to consider when drafting policies. It emphasizes ecotourism that has long been considered the most sustainable form of tourism. Some of the findings and characteristics of the model could be useful for remote destinations in general.

This paper interrogates the intersection between sustainable tourism and community-based tourism (CBT). It is a conceptual paper that unpacks the conceptualization of tourism and traces the emergence of sustainable tourism as one of the responses to conventional/mass tourism. The history of conventional tourism shows that, like any form of tourism, it has both positive and negative impacts on destinations. It is against this backdrop that CBT emerged. To achieve its aim, this article examined the main principles and attributes of CBT in CBT manuals and handbooks, focusing on two key concepts - sustainability and the environment. This examination revealed a significant mismatch in the conception of sustainability, while it is a fundamental requirement in tourism to tackle its negative environmental impacts. Environmental sustainability is considered more implicit in CBT, while it is often less regarded in conventional/mass tourism. We argue that the sustainability of tourism should be an intrinsic and universal principle of all forms of tourism that governments should enforce. The fact that conventional tourism produces most of the environmental damage, it is for this reason that it should elevate its role to become a solid promoter of sustainable measures for environmentally-friendly and sustainability-friendly practices instead.

The following article presents a theoretical analysis of human well-being in relation to sustainable tourism and to tourism hosting communities. Well-being of hosts, in accordance with UNWTO or UNGA, should be achieved when sustainable tourism guidelines are fulfilled. The question posed in this article, however, challenges that view. Does it really lead to well-being? Or maybe we are missing some important issues on the way? The article is divided into three sections. In the first section, well-being conceptual backgrounds are presented. The second section is devoted to the analysis of well-being usage in sustainable tourism conceptual background, and focuses on the differences between the guidelines provided in 2005, and the latest guidelines published by UNWTO and UNGA in 2015. The third part, juxtaposes well-being conceptual background with tourism. Eventually, most prominent gaps and challenges of well-being in a frame of sustainable tourism are presented in detail. KEYWORDS human well-being, sustainable development, tourism