LOCAL PARTICIPATION LEVEL AND EMPOWERMENT: A Case Study of Ghandruk Community Tourism, Nepal

大阪産業大学博士（経営学）2019年度Local participation in community tourism is key to the host community welfare as well as socio-cultural and environmental well-being. However, the measurement of a tangible level of such participation and the consequential empowerment process of the host is often overlooked and remains hitherto, an under-researched concept. To inquire on this as an objective, a case study is applied in a Ghandruk community(Nepal) with an assessment of community-tourism interaction, participation level and empowerment build up process of the community. While on the construction of the theory, theoretical perspectives on destination development, community-tourism interactions and participation typologies are incorporated. Structured questionnaires for a sample population and other qualitative survey techniques revealed that the local enthusiasm in tourism was growing for economic reasons, gaining some empowerment. A growth tendency of zones such as core and peripherals, in terms of tourism trade intensity and local involvement, was detected. The core area participants were more resourceful to tap on tourism and were benefitted than those in the peripherals. It is concluded that in communities such as Ghandruk where tourism is slowly taking off, such traits of core and peripherals, are evident. But in due course of destination development and maturity, as the local participation level rises sufficiently to broaden the peripheral zone, merging with the core areas may occur.doctoral thesi