Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
monitoring (Scheyvens, 1999). Thus, the concept
of sustainable tourism can be interpreted as a proc-
ess of tourism development as well as the outcome
of tourism development.
In addition, sustainable tourism development
defies the need to gratify each and every demand
made by tourists' as some of the needs may not cor-
respond to the principles of sustainable develop-
ment. Instead, the importance is put into educating
the tourists to respect the principles of sustainable
tourism. A sustainable approach in tourism devel-
opment should aim to satisfy the visitors as well as
to develop the people and the place where the com-
munity lives in. Striving only to satisfy the tourists
will lead to unfairness as a large number of tourists
can generate social costs as they impinge upon the
lifestyles of the host community as well as deterio-
rate the community's ecological and sociocultural
resources (Tasci, Gurbuz & Gartner, 2006).
individuals and the whole community, and exceed
costs to those involved. Benefits may be financial
and/or non-financial, e.g. to include for example
social, cultural, environmental and educational
opportunities.
However, due to its 'saint-like' nature, several
parties use the term 'CBT' like others use the term
'ecotourism' as a marketing gimmick to attract
consumers who are then made to believe that they
are supporting a good cause—which is to travel
responsibly. It is argued that there is little tangi-
ble evidence of the benefits produced (Goodwin,
2007). Previous research has found that unfortu-
nately many CBT enterprises do not succeed or do
not produce intended benefits, or do not sustain.
For example, Goodwin & Santilli (2009) surveyed
116 CBT initiatives identified by experts as suc-
cessful: of 28 responses secured, 15 qualified as
CBT enterprises, and only six were economically
sustainable. A research done by Dixey (2008) in
Zambia brought similar findings when only three
of 25 CBT enterprises surveyed were “generate
enough net income per year for tangible devel-
opment and social welfare in the wider commu-
nity”, all of which had a private sector backing. If
the initiative fails, investments and efforts made
by the community will make an already vulner-
able community worse off (Mitchell & Muckosy,
2008).
1.2
CBT as the tourism that produce sustainable
development
Community-based tourism (CBT) is the type of
tourism which is strongly linked to the commu-
nity as it is the community who is the main actor
of its planning and execution as well as the pri-
mary party that benefit from it. This is in accord
with Russell (2000) who argues that a tourism
project cannot be termed as a CBT unless it has
the support and participation of local people,
economically benefits the people living at or near
the destination and protects local people's cul-
tural identity and the natural environment. These
noticeable similarities with the sustainable devel-
opment concept lead to an easy conclusion that
CBT is a sub-category of sustainable tourism.
CBT is often linked to rural tourism as communi-
ties in rural areas are usually the ones that have
the propensity to work together on community
projects such as tourism.
CBT presents an opportunity to empower local
communities, particularly in developing countries,
to develop a more apt 'grass-roots' form of sus-
tainable tourism than mass tourism and to con-
tribute to local economic development and poverty
reduction. It is argued that through developing
CBT enterprises, communities can be empowered
by raising pride, self-esteem and status, improving
cohesion and community development and creating
an equitable community political and democratic
structure. Thus, the success of a CBT is based on
both competitive and sustainability criteria. CBTs
must generate individual and collective benefits for
community members (Simpson, 2008), which must
exceed costs to all involved and counterbalance to
tourism impacts produced (Novelli & Gebhardt,
2007). The benefits generated must accrue both to
1.3
CBRH programmes in Malaysia
Community-based rural homestay (CBRH) pro-
grammes which are located at the village commu-
nities throughout Malaysia are promoted by the
Malaysian Government as the Malaysian version
of CBT as they claim that the CBRH programmes
which are closely related to the nature of certain
rural areas strive for culture preservation and envi-
ronment protection. A CBRH programme offers
visitors accommodation, food, cultural and/or
nature activities as well as education. Although
the programmes are managed by the local people,
usually through a committee formed by the com-
munities, the committees are not legally allowed to
sell packages unless if they have are licensed tour
operators. Most of them do not own tour operat-
ing license due to the high start-up capital imposed
by the government. Just as there is an uncertainty
about the actual benefits brought by CBTs, CBRH
programmes' actual benefits that can qualify them
as tools for sustainable development are still vague
due to lack of research. Thus, this study is to explore
the required criteria for a successful CBRH pro-
grammes from the perspectives of different experts
who are familiar with the CBRH programmes. In
addition, the extent that the criteria mirrored the
criteria of a CBT is examined.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search