Adrian Boyett D. Agbon
COMMUNITY-BASED tourism (CBT) is considered and promoted as a means of development whereby the social, environmental and economic needs of local communities are met through the
offering of a tourism product.
Browsing the literature, CBT is defined as tourism owned and/or managed by communities that intend to deliver wider community benefit. The Thailand CBT Institute defines it more rigorously as “tourism that takes environmental, social and cultural sustainability into account. It is managed and owned by the community, with the purpose of enabling visitors to increase their awareness and learn about the community and local ways of life.”
I narrowed my literature search only to developing countries. The first group is African countries. The Kahawa Shamba in Tanzania is a successful coffee farm visit, with lunch and an option of overnight accommodation. The Meket Community Tourism Project in Ethiopia with a link to tour operators, covers three community-owned lodges and involves trekking.
The second group is in Asia. The Gunung Halimun National Park in West Java, Indonesia is the largest remaining primary lowland forest in Java and is home to 23 mammal species, at least two of which (the Javan gibbon and the grizzled langur) are endemic and endangered.
The roughly 40,000 hectares found within its boundaries also cover a wide range of plant community habitats. The park also supports more than 200 bird species, of which 18 are endemic, and over 500 plant species. Indigenous Kasepuhan and other Sundanese communities live in and around the park and depend heavily on its natural resources.
Another is the Bai Yang Gou Valley Tourist Region in Xinjiang Province, China, which is a nature reserve in the north Tien Shan Mountains. The valley is the home of a nomadic Kazakh shepherd community who travel into the surrounding hills during the summer to feed their animals on the high summer pastures. During summer, they live in yurts and herd their animals on horseback. The area is one of outstanding natural beauty and the people constitute an ethnic minority with their own traditions and culture. Tourists witness a few horse riding displays by the Kazakhs.
The success of Bario, Sarawak, Malaysia can be attributed to its connectivity through ICT.
Bario is a remote rural community in the Kelabit Highlands of the Malaysian State of Sarawak, Borneo. This is the home of Kelabit people, one of the smallest indigenous Sarawakian ethnic minorities. Bario is one of the centers visited by the indigenous Penan tribe, the last remaining semi-nomadic people living in the rainforest.
The surrounding mountains provide opportunities for trekking in pristine rainforests and cultural encounters with the indigenous peoples who still preserve their long-established customs.
The Ba Bê Lake National Park, Bac Kan Province, Vietnam is another case of a success story. The national park is in a remote national park among the mountains of Northern Vietnam. The area provides opportunities for boating and small-scale eco-tourism.
There are several villages inhabited by ethnic communities, mostly Tay and Hmong.
Some of these villages offer home stay accommodation. Currently, tourists pay an agent to take them to visit the ethnic minority communities in and around Ba Bê Lake.
There are other adventure activities such as trekking, fishing and wildlife observation.