Support Community-based Tourism
People to People Connections and Authentic Destinations.
Community-based tourism affords travelers with rare opportunities to experience local communities first hand. It's distinctive in that it provides an alternative to development that's not sustainable, giving rural and poor communities an additional source of income.
In supporting community-based tourism, you can immerse yourself in the day-to-day lives of local and indiginous people while helping them to preserve their environment and cultural heritage.You'll spend time near areas that are rich in culture and biodiversity, and you'll get to know the locals at the grass roots level.
Community-based Ventures and Websites Include:
- Asia-Pacific. Community-based Tourism in the Asia Pacific;
- Botswana. Community-based Tourism - Tourism of Botswana;
- Community-based Mountain Tourism. Practices for Linking Conservation with Enterprise;
- Costa Rica. ACTUAR - Costa Rican Rural Community Tourism Association;
- Costa Rica. Rural Community Tourism;
- India. Rural Organisation for Social Elevation;
- Indonesia. JED - Village Ecotourism Network;
- Mexico. Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve Community-based Tourism;
- Namibia. Community-based Tourism in Namibia;
- Nicaragua. Rural Community Ecotourism in Four Indigenous Communities of the Municipality of Pearl Lagoon, Nicaragua;
- Planeta. Community Tourism by Ron Mader;
- South Africa. Community Tourism Association of South Africa CTA (SA);
- South America. The Mountain Institute - Community Based Tourism Initiatives' in the Andes;
- Tourism Concern. Tourism Concern works with communities in destination countries to reduce social and environmental problems connected to tourism and with the out-going tourism industry in the UK to find ways of improving tourism so that local benefits are increased;
- Uganda. Uganda Community Tourism Association;
Community-based Tourism Definitions.
- Community-based Tourism: Community-based tourism is socially sustainable tourism which is initiated and almost always operated exclusively by local and indiginous people. Shared ledership emphasizing community well-being over individual profit, balances power within communities, and fosters traditional culture, conservation, and responsible stewardship of the land.
- Culture: The accumulated habits, attitudes, languages, and beliefs of a group of people that define for them their general behavior and way of life.
- Cultural Imperialism: The practice of promoting the culture or language of one nation in another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, less affluent one. Cultural imperialism can take the form of an active, formal policy or a general attitude. (Source: NationMaster.com).
- Indigenous People: People who are the descendants of the original inhabitants of a geographic region prior to colonization who have maintained some or all of their linguistic, cultural and organizational characteristics.
- Local People: Someone who has lived in an area long enough to take an active role in shaping and defining their community and its cultural identity in a positive way.
- Social Norm: In sociology, a norm or social norm, is a pattern of behavior expected within a particular society in a given situation. The shared belief of what is normal and acceptable shapes and enforces the actions of people in a society. The very fact that others in one's society follow the norm may give them a reason to follow it. Important norms are called mores. (Source: Wikipedia).
- Social Structure: Ordered interrelationships that are characteristic of particular societies, such as its class structure or system of economic or political relations. (Brunel University, Researching Society and Culture).
For more information, please visit Sustainable Travel International.