A Critique of the Interface Between Tourism, Sustainable Development and Sustainable Tourism in Community-Based Tourism Theory

Published ArticleGiven the fact that tourism is becoming the largest single sector of world trade, which has potential to substantially contribute to sustainable development from local to global scale. The need to develop tourism sustainably also becomes a primary concern. Human communities represent both a primary resource upon which tourism depends, and their existence in a particular place at a particular time may be used to justify the development of tourism itself. Tourism is supposed to be developmental in nature benefiting the local community by improving the Quality-of-Life and the standard of living for locals and local commerce. Community-based tourism has emerged as means to ensure that the host community benefit from the tourism industry. It is therefore imperative to understand that the community around tourism development is important and has to be involved in the development from the initial planning of the development as the sole beneficiaries of the development. Sustaining the community/particular communities has therefore become an essential element of sustainable tourism. The rationale of sustainable tourism development usually rests on the assurance of renewable economic, social and cultural benefits to the community and its environment. The concepts discussed in this paper show that they have principles that are similar to each other and are intended to deliver the same goals to benefit all stakeholders involved. If implemented well they should be able to preserve the environment, ensure that the sociocultural framework of the community is maintained, and also improves the living standards of the host communities. All these concepts have to fulfil the criteria that make it economically sensible as well as socially, culturally and ecologically compatible with the communities in which the development takes place