Tourism and Community Development Issues - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 201

Conclusion
Studies of tourism's contributions to community development reveal a
diverse range of forms and approaches to CBT, as well as a wide variety of
planning and community engagement tools. Development agendas have
shifted to incorporate pro-poor initiatives, and to identify 'triple bottom line'
(environmental, economic and social) goals that comport with community
development agendas. Despite such constructive changes away from tradi-
tional economic models oriented toward growth and profit and toward
much richer notions of tourism's role and capacity to contribute to societal
well-being, study results tend to be multifaceted and sometimes inconclu-
sive. Even in Brazil, an early proponent of CBT and ecotourism, results have
been mixed (Mielke, 2012). As this chapter indicates, optimism is not entirely
unwarranted, though adjustments and changes need to be made to improve
the well-being of local participants in tourism and CD, in particular disad-
vantaged groups and those who stand to be most adversely impacted by the
commodification and sale of their natural and socio-cultural goods and envi-
ronments. Opportunities to use tourism as a powerful vehicle of climate
change and sustainability pedagogy also need to be taken up, such as via
community-based participation and interpretation. Community-based prac-
tices for adaptive co-management must engage local and traditional knowl-
edge in addition to scientific and technical inputs (Plummer & Fennell,
2009), collaborative planning and information sharing, for example via col-
laborative learning around climate change, tourism and community develop-
ment (see Daniels & Walker, 2001).
The power and politics involved in such 'community-based' processes
merit careful scrutiny - whose interests are being forwarded in pro-poor and
other CD and tourism agendas ? How is empowerment and local control
being facilitated, through what mechanisms and processes ? As Simpson
(2008) noted, community engagement is a complex endeavor, but especially
important with respect to directing the type of tourism development and the
allocation of costs and benefits from tourism. While potential for improving
community development benefits appears to be present in the various tour-
ism forms discussed in this chapter, much further research is needed to
understand the potential of relatively new forms such as volunteer tourism
and fair trade in tourism. While this latter form is not discussed due to space
limitations, it is an important issue with respect to enabling living wages,
reducing economic leakage and facilitating direct producer-consumer link-
ages (Boersma, 2009) and the PPT benefits of activities such as slum tourism
(Weiner, 2008; see also: Science Daily, 2010). Greater vigilance and 'corporate
social responsibility' will be needed to facilitate improved stakeholder col-
laboration, partnerships, networks, local economic linkages and fair labor
practices in the destinations and communities that are involved in tourism