Role of external parties in Community-Based Tourism development: Towards a new model.

Abstract

Community-based tourism (CBT) is a tourism development strategy used in many countries as a way to promote community development with a special focus on disadvantaged communities. Many definitions and models related to CBT have been propounded. It is not always necessary but often happens in CBT development for the community to require assistance especially from an external party as it pursues a CBT venture. It is the external party, the facilitator that is the focus of this article. After having explored various aspects related to facilitators’ involvement in CBT, the article posits a model of external party participation that shows the various possible ‘routes’ (or roles) which the facilitator can play in CBT in order to enhance CBT success. The article was composed after wide reading and is thus based on secondary data sources. The article thus remains a concept analytical work as no primary data were collected. The model provides trajectories which facilitators can take in driving CBT. The advantage of this model is that it promotes holistic and sustainable community development if it is bottom-up in approach, and it empowers community members for self-reliance and promotes the independence of the communities. It rests upon the shoulders of a facilitator to ensure that they have the necessary skills and capacity to assist the CBT venture with their intervention being merely ephemeral but nonetheless critical.

Keywords

• tourism
• community-based tourism
• tourism model
• facilitator
• community development