Community-Based Ecotourism: The Transformation of Local Community

Abstract

Abstract. Community-based ecotourism (CBET) is considered a sustainable form of tourism that improves the quality of life of hosts at the tourist destination. Scholars have yet to explore the long-term operation of CBET in relation to its effects on the local way of life. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to examine the transformation of a local community due to the operation of CBET in relation to sociocultural, economic and environmental aspects. The findings reveal that the community encounters both positive and negative impacts of transformation. However, unintended impacts of the CBET operation lay embedded in the transformation of relationships among the community members. The study identifies that close relationships among the villagers has been initially transformed to loose relationships due to forgotten communal goals; CBET has transformed from being a conservation tool to being a business-oriented goal which causes conflicts of interest among local people and alters traditional social structure. The study also agrees with the notion of social exchange theory for villagers to enhance environmental sustainability, and proposes that slight inequalities of benefits received from CBET causes social transformation at the local level.

Capturing Tourists’ Preferences for the Management of Community-Based Ecotourism in a Forest Park

“…A local dish or distinctive cuisine is one of most important factors for tourists who visit an ecotourism site [19], as is the case in Mieang, Thailand, a locale famous for its special local dishes [32]. Moreover, tourists have shown a higher preference for eating traditional customary cuisine or dishes in community-based ecotourism trips [33].…”

“…Following the past CE research [1,6,8,11,14,[17][18][19][20][21]32,33], this study utilized a CE design to understand community-based ecotourism in the DFP area. We first built up the CE attributes and levels based on literature reviews covering the fields of community-based ecotourism and protected areas and also used onsite interviews with focus group discussions [13] such as those carried out with local government officers, community managers, economists, and the NGOs that have been working or studying in the area surrounding the DFP.…”

“…Based on the pre-test and focus group discussions, the final CE questionnaire was developed in October 2014. We settled on six attributes of community-based ecotourism to examine, according the above discussion, tour guide interpretation [8,14,19], experience activity [1,8,11,20], travel information [6,11,20], local dish style [19,32,33], accommodation choice [1,8,14], and package tour fees [1,6,11,14,19]. The preference attributes and levels for community-based ecotourism in DFP are shown in Table 2.…”

The Identification of Historical Tourism Potential in the Re-Branding of Kajoetangan Village

“…Globally, natural tourism has shown a dramatic development since its creation in the 1980s and has become an important part of the world tourism industry and most importantly is gaining popularity. With the introduction of environmental education as an integral part of ecotourism to enhance customer satisfaction, many developing regions have utilized this one inherent element to effectively market their natural potential as a tourism product [20]. Kajoetangan Village, traversed by two rivers, namely the Sukun River and the Slayer River (Krangkeng).…”

Assessment of Ecotourism Challenges in Okwangwo Division of Cross River National Park, Nigeria

“…It has received the attention of developing nations because of its conservation role and significance in economic development, which contribute to the welfare of local communities. With the introduction of environmental education as an integral part of ecotourism to enhance customer satisfaction, many developing regions had tapped from this single inherent element to effectively market their serene natural habitats as tourism products (Pookhao, 2014). Osunsina, Ogunjinmi, Meduna and Oyeleke (2008) stated that the only way to maximize environmental, social and economic benefits of tourism is by adopting ecotourism option.…”