Community-Based Associations for Sustainable Tourism Development : Fostering Sustainable Development in Developing Countries

Community-Based Tourism (CBT) is a bottom-up approach to sustainable developmentused in developing countries to enhance the conservation of natural resources, preservetraditional culture, and generate income at the local level. The study aims to understandthe effectiveness of community associations for CBT development in developingcountries. Ghana is selected as the primary case of this study. Published data on CBTassociations in Namibia, Uganda, Kyrgyzstan and Costa Rica are used as supporting casesof the study. The research was conducted primarily, using library resources, incombination with fieldwork conducted by the author. The findings describe a viciouscircle of poverty in Ghana’s CBT development as well as describe successes andchallenges of supporting cases. It is clarified that the studied CBT associations haveplayed a significant role in creating networks and making linkages among the variousstakeholders involved. Further, these efforts increase the possibility of expanding CBTbenefits to the whole country, especially by creating interaction with governmentalagencies. However, obtaining a sustainable funding source for their activities is still agreat challenge, facing the associations. The study concludes that the establishment ofCBT associations can solve some of the problems identified as limiting Ghana’s CBTdevelopment. In particular, CBT associations could be useful for enhancing collaborationamong stakeholders. Unfortunately, the study could not identify any concrete solutionsfor the many financial issues which many developing countries face. An empirical studyon introducing microfinance or other soft loan system to CBT associations could be avaluable subject for further studies