Community Based Tourism
Finding the Euilibrium in the COMCEC Context
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Benefits:
 A unique alternative tourism product.
 Stresses establishing long and continuous host-guest relationship (‘Sillatul-rahim’ in
Malay) through letters, phone conversations, and emails.
 Positive social and cultural impacts, increase in the social cohesion.
 Income is considered marginal but low leakage due to local production.
Sources: (Kayat, 2008, 2010)
The community-based tourism development project in Central Java, Indonesia was
initiated by the UNWTO in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and
Tourism. The project generally aimed at bettering the socioeconomic conditions for the
local community while ensuring a sustainable development of the natural and cultural
environments. The project’s specific aims included income generation through tourism for
the local community, enhancement of the local participation in the planning, development
and management processes, and the increase of local capacities, skills and living conditions.
The project activities mostly focused on planning and strategy development, such as
assessment of community tourism development opportunities, sustainable community
needs analysis, an overall national policy framework as well as specific guidelines and
standards to guide the local community for sustainable community tourism, and
recommendations for a support structure for the local governments and local communities
to enhance their capabilities.
The project also suggested planning, training and education, health and sanitation, and
income generation activities as indicators for success.
Benefits:
 Increased tourism activity since the project’s inception (increased number of
international and domestic tourists with an average stay of three days).
 Increased employment opportunities for the local poor population in tourism (e.g. tour
guiding, home-stays, local transportation, souvenirs, restaurants, local food production
and distribution).
 Ownership and management of tourism businesses by local community members
(100% increase in number of home-stays in 2003, 10% increase in 2004).
 Increased tourism revenues and direct economic injection of tourism proceeds to the
local household income (e.g. 12.5% increase in per capita income in 2003 compared to
2001; creation of a community income fund from tourist arrivals to be used in
community development).
 Enhanced institution-level support for the local community.
CASE 4 – Indonesia: Candi Rejo Borobudur, Central Java and old Banten