Tourism and Community Development Issues - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 202

via the informal and formal sector. Similarly, the role of local and external
NGOs in sustainable tourism development is crucial but is also challenging
with respect to weighing up dependencies and change. Integrated approaches
to development and planning that bridge the local to the regional/national/
international, via networks, partnerships, collaborative planning, and early
involvement of residents and other key stakeholders in the process are key to
facilitating tourism's community development potential.
A key insight from this chapter is the vital importance of changing the
(external) policy agenda in addition to local policy change. The chapter sup-
ports much (not all) of Blackstock's (2005) critique of CBT, especially with
respect to CBT proponents that do not question or challenge tourism as a
vehicle for community development, tend to assume homogenous power
bases (rather than conflict scenarios) and attend poorly to external barriers
and constraints. Harrison (2008) argues that if state-level change in the
development agenda toward PPT is to work well, it requires political, eco-
nomic and social agendas to be structurally reoriented. Schilcher (2007) calls
for a reorientation from growth to equity and change institutions, otherwise
it is neoliberal governance and business as usual. Under a sustainable devel-
opment agenda, policies, norms and guidelines are needed to ensure fair dis-
tribution of goods in societies and fair procedures for participation in
decision-making on the allocation and protection of these resources locally
and globally, for current and future generations. These procedural issues
must pay careful attention to rights and obligations related to those who
dwell, visit and use (commodify) natural and cultural areas and impact
human-environmental and other cultural relationships. Communities do not
exist in isolation and tourism and community development must address not
only the local but also the wider political and governance issues that link the
local to the regional and global context of the complex tourism system.
Appendix 6.1 Community Tourism as Envisioned
by a Key Hawaiian Stakeholder in 2004
Community Tourism: Empowering Communities to Tell
their Own Stories
Community tourism is a process not a product. It is a process whose plan-
ning must be inclusive of, understood by and embraced by the general popu-
lation of the place in which it occurs. It is for the most part small-scale
tourism whose planning and execution is driven by a genuine desire of a
community willing to share itself, its history, traditions and customs with
strangers, as a means by which to support economic growth. Community
tourism initiatives are travel-related offerings created and operated by local,
traditional or indigenous populations to enhance their quality of life, protect