THE STRATEGIC ISSUES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY IN GIRI EMAS VILLAGE

Abstract

Despite being perceived as an alternative to mass tourism particularly to improve rural economy, community-based tourism (CBT) has several challenging areas that have not much been addressed. Indeed, while the stress has been on the community aspect, the involvement of community remains questionable. This paper reports on the results of a qualitative study that explored strategic issues in the development of CBT. More attentions were given to critical aspects that related to the community. Data were collected from villagers of Giri Emas Village using focus group discussions. The results indicated six major themes. They were low participations of local community, lack of skill, reliance on external funding, local political issues, skeptical attitudes, and lack of sense of ownership. It is therefore recommended that developer and policy makers should pay
attention on these issues in developing CBT. Each element is further discussed outlining areas for future research. In additions, limitation of the study is also acknowledged.