Community as a whole: A multipartite approach
Judging from the homestay programmes offered at the fi ve rural tourism sites, community involvement via a stakeholder approach is essential for success.
However, there seems to be a misunderstanding about community-based tour-ism and community tourtour-ism, which needs to be addressed urgently (Untong, 2006). Community-based tourism is often misunderstood as a tourism product (DeLemos, 2006). Instead, it is a management mechanism. In Thailand, ‘com-munity’ refers only to very poor or very local people; as a result, the tourism activity is managed from a very limited perspective, causing confl icts among local stakeholders. The serious repercussions are demonstrated in the case of the Plai Pong Pang community.
It is therefore necessary to educate people to ensure they have the right per-ception of community-based tourism and community tourism. There are differ-ences in goals, and thus management, between conventional tourism and community-based tourism. As conventional tourism hopes to generate income, the approach is usually top-down and targets maximization of profi ts. Commu-nity-based tourism, on the other hand, is for the sustainable development of the area; a bottom-up approach, with local input as well as accountability, is there-fore needed. And with effective implementation of a community-based approach, the community, in its own right, can offer the community as a tourism product and position it as a source of community-based learning.
Community empowerment research: A tool for self-assessment and success for tourism stakeholders
One of the very fi rst steps in engaging in tourism activities is research. It is essen-tial that communities are made aware of their tourism potenessen-tial and capacity (tourism components and tourism products – supply side) and tourism market
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(demand side). Mae Kam Pong is a classic example of how a community can exploit research to its economic benefi t. Without undertaking research, the com-munity would lack information to make proper decisions for tourism develop-ment and marketing activities. Additionally, research can help a community develop a set of tools and techniques for monitoring and assessing tourism activ-ities to analyse impacts and service quality (Sarobol, 2003).
As a result of the aforementioned circumstances, the community, referring to all individuals, should conduct a programme of research to identify their tour-ism potential and capacity, potential risks and limitations. A participatory approach is needed to decide whether or not the community needs tourism; the community has the right to say no. It is important to recognize that the needs and expected benefi ts of individuals vary. Tourism products must be selected based on the community’s capacity, readiness, tourism identity and target group (Suansri, 2003).
As well, the community should carry out monitoring and assessment of the economic, socio-economic and environment aspects after the implementation of tourism activities. This will enable them to adapt tourism activities and products to changing conditions with regard to their own tourism identity and to manage problems that may arise at the early stage. The TRF is a leading independent research organization that has supported CBRT for more than 7 years, having granted more than 70 community-based tourism development projects. The TRF employs ‘community-based research’ to empower the local people by pro-viding learning opportunities for them to realize and address their own problems by undertaking research processes. The funding process is facilitated by research counsellors who are local people.
Partnership and coalition building: Mechanism for community-based rural tourism sustainability
To achieve these objectives, the community requires support and advocacy from the other parties concerned, including local administrative organizations and gov-ernment and non-govgov-ernmental organizations. The Koh Yao Noi community has the support of the REST projects, while Ban Huay Hee is assisted by the PRLC.
Mae Kam Pong, meanwhile, enlists help from the TRF Regional Offi ce. For com-munity-based tourism to grow in a sustainable manner, there is a need to build and expand a comprehensive network under which the communities exchange experiences, knowledge and technical support, and through the process strengthen themselves.
Local administrative bodies, especially the TAOs, have played a signifi cant role in rural development over the years. Due to the policy decentralization of power recognized by the 1997 constitution, state budgets, decision making and capacity-building resources have been channelled to these local organizations.
However, little recognition is given to local authority institutions as stakeholders in community-based tourism, apparently because they have political interest and their responsibilities involve largely investment in and development of public infrastructure and utilities such as roads, water treatment and refuse disposal
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facilities. It is advised that the community should raise awareness and seek close cooperation as a step towards creating a political will in promoting community-based tourism as a mechanism for tourism sustainability.
Processes of developing and promoting sustainable CBRT by the stakeholder approach
CBRT development in Thailand has experienced both failure and success. The lessons learned from the case of Thailand can be drawn as process guidelines for developing and promoting sustainable CBRT for other countries with similar context, as follows:
● Rural development perspectives need to be altered from re-engineering the structure of governmental administration organizations at a local level to strengthening local communities and community structure directly. Doing so would create a community learning environment, construct community net-works, strengthen collaborative efforts with other local stakeholders and build better understanding among inter and intra communities. Finally, this would help create self-reliant communities ready for developing and promoting sustainable rural tourism.
● Decision-making processes should then be provided where the community is willing to employ tourism as a means for rural development. The right to choose the development path and the community’s destiny should be iden-tifi ed by the community. This is contrary to the present situation. Most com-munities have no right to voice whether they would like their areas to be tourist destinations, causing community resistance such as organized pro-tests, community aggression and reinvented rituals (Wang and Pfi ster, 2008).
● Rural tourism development mechanisms such as rural tourism committees need to be set up, making them functional and accepted by all tourism-related stakeholders. In addition, the background and status of the mechanism mem-bers should be similar and on an equal level to avoid power domination after the rural tourism activity has taken place for a period of time. If the members are from different status and background, administration and benefi t sharing must be very well managed to make it fair, transparent and reliable.
● Having functional mechanisms, the rural tourism development committees and members need to build collaborative networks, as success in rural tour-ism development requires knowledge and know-how from all tourtour-ism stake-holders. The knowledge for sustainable rural tourism development is, for example: rural tourism marketing (price, place, product, promotion, people, partnership, package/programme, physical evidence, etc.) from the business sector; tourism laws and regulations from the governmental sector; carrying capacity management from environmentalists; and local landscape manage-ment from architects. Transferring and exchanging tourism knowledge among stakeholders is a must for success.
● Next, the community needs to survey and analyse the potential, strength, weakness, opportunity, treats of the area and the needs and wants of the
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community, as well as the visitors. After that, they need to select community tourism products that can be offered to visitors with little or no negative impacts. It is not necessary to sell all the products of the community. This action can help the community to attract high-quality tourists who are willing to adjust to the real community settings.
● Destination benchmarking then needs to be practised, and its result will help the development of guidelines on what the destination positioning should be, not to compete with each other but to be linked as one travelling route.
● Rural tourism product positioning and destination branding then need to be designed according to community identity, community strength and selec-tive target markets.
● After knowing what to offer to tourists and what to develop in the commu-nity, a strategic sustainable rural tourism development plan needs to be draft-ed, employing a multipartite participatory approach, to be a guideline for rural tourism development in the area. The strategic plan will last for 5 years, while each year is directed by a rural tourism action plan which must be in accordance with the 5-year strategic plan. More importantly, both plans are necessary to create a balance between the host and the guest.
● The strategic rural tourism development plan and yearly action plan must be implemented with a participatory approach. Calling for participation from all stakeholders needs to be practised carefully in order to increase the area’s sense of belonging.
● Along the way of plan implementation, follow-up activities to monitor and evaluate the plans need to be undertaken to ensure that the plans work well, fi t the changing tourism situation and provide the best outputs and outcomes.
If the plans lead the community in an unsustainable rural tourism direction, they need to be amended with a participatory stakeholder approach.
Conclusion
Infl uenced by global tourism circumstances, the Thai tourism industry has been developed through four stages: conventional tourism, modern tourism, alterna-tive tourism and postmodern tourism (Choibamroong, 2008). As part of Thai tourism products, CBRT has adjusted itself as well to fi t the changing situation.
Employing learning by approaching many stakeholders, it has experienced both success and failure. Looking back at its origin, it is found that CBRT has been developed and promoted by different stakeholders, depending on the area conditions (Theerapappisit, 2007).
Some CBRT sites are initiated by NGOs, where the people cannot rely on the local government, having other development issues for action, and then turning to rural tourism. Some are developed by the local government, whose rural tourism is infl uenced very much by the local political power and the fact that most local people are not given the right to make decisions on its develop-ment. Academic and research organizations are also considered as having a critical role in CBRT development in Thailand. With aims for sustainable rural development, some universities have undertaken CBRT development projects,