Community Based Tourism
Finding the Euilibrium in the COMCEC Context
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 develop and allocate resources for prestigious awards for quality products and tourist
satisfaction,
 provide licensing, certification, standardization for safety and security assurance,
 make necessary adjustments on policy of recruitment, training and registration of certain
personnel such as tour guides (can be different for different countries).
2.4.2. Human and Social Capital Development
Empowerment of locals should come after awareness and capacity building through
training and education. Governments, donor organizations and NGOs are the key players in
developing campaigns, educational and training programs for human and social capital
development. Public diplomacy is a very important aspect of destination development.
Public diplomacy should be utilized to manage public attitude, and to increase awareness
and support among the general public through media, training programs, festivals and
conferences. Effective public diplomacy motivates locals and Diasporas to volunteer as
destination ambassadors.
A formal means of education is available in local schools can be utilized in developing
capacity and skill building training courses and workshops. In addition, the religious
authorities and other opinion leaders such as retired officials and respected elderly can be
the distributors of educational messages through informal education techniques The
embracive and tolerant nature of religious and cultural values can be highlighted to
prepare the locals for meeting people from other nations with different religions and
cultures. Educators can be composed of any authority that the locals would trust and be
open to listen and change.
2.4.2.1. Development of an All-inclusive Community Organization
As part of social capital development, information, education and training of the locals need
to be supported by development of an organization responsible for overseeing the CBT
destination. Regardless of the size, communities are heterogeneous in profiles with
differences in traditional power, political power, economic power, ethnicity, and social
status, which are potential sources of conflicting interest and/or resistance to
development. The existence of government, donor, or NGO representation in CBT
development may not fully prevent issues from arising or resolve those that have arisen.
Therefore, depending on the local structure, a local organization, similar to “Trust” in
African CBT cases, may be needed. The organization needs to be representative of different
groups and transparent in guidance of locals for:
 transfer of management roles and responsibilities from the development facilitators
(government, donors, NGOs) to locals
 resolving issues of resistance and conflicting interests by persuasion and
community agreement rather than regulation
 sustainable use of resources and public land, in distributing, monitoring,
redistributing, legislating and enforcing