Rural tourism can be defined as a tourism project in the rural areas where people from all over the world come to visit, and the project is run by the community itself. It is a project in the community whereby tourism, visit the community so as to see their unique culture and traditional practices. For a form of tourism in the rural areas to qualify to be classified as a community-based rural tourism, the community must be the sole managers of the activity. They must also be the sole beneficiaries of all the financial and non-financial needs which are derived from the tourism activity. Moreover, they should maintain the activity, and all community members should get a share of the benefits that are derived from the activity.
As outlined earlier, for a tourism project to qualify as a community-based, it must be managed and headed by the community. Since the community is responsible for ensuring that the tourism activity runs smoothly, it should benefit them. The benefits that occur as a result of community-based rural tourism are either of financial nature or non-financial nature. Finances are accrued from a certain payment fee that the visitors might be required to pay so as to access the community facilities and services. It may also be from the sale of certain community items. Moreover, they may be from donations whereby the tourists decide to sponsor a certain activity or just give some money to the community to help them (Kalsom 3)
Other benefits include health services, infrastructure, and education. Sustainable community-based rural tourism should bring about such benefits to the community. From the finances available, the community gets the opportunity to improve their infrastructure, provide better health services for members, as well as provide education for the members and their families. The benefits should also be evenly distributed among all the community members. There should be no single person in the community who benefits more than the other regardless of their management or leadership position. Such cases of inequality are likely to bring about quarrels which may disrupt the tourism activity (Jamal 49).
The other dimension is conservation. The main reason tourists visit a certain community where they have community-based rural tourism is to see their culture. They also travel to see the cultural heritage, traditional ways of doing things which are unique, as well as see the resources and natural environment of the place. Without these particular things being conserved, then there is no tourism. The culture, traditions, and environment of the community must thus be conserved so as to ensure that the tourism activity is sustainable. The community should not be influenced to change their ways by the visitors. Rather, they should stick to their traditional ways which are unique and are the reason tourism in the area exist.
Networking and collaboration relate to the relationships the community should form to ensure that the rural tourism is sustainable. The first collaboration should be with the government, and the other should be with NGOs. They are the organizations which can help the community to achieve sustainable tourism. They can both provide the education and finances, which the community needs so as to run the activity. They can also help them and support them when it comes to the marketing of their operation thus making it successful and sustainable. Networking and collaboration must also be done with key players in the tourism industry so as to help the project to be sustainable. A good example is travel agencies as they advise people on the best areas to visit. The ministry of tourism is also another entity they should network and collaborate with so as to help them in marketing and well as attracting an inflow of tourists’ from other countries (Okech 40).
Marketing is the other dimension of sustainable community-based rural tourism. For tourism to be sustainable, the flow of tourists must be maintained in the area. To do so, there is a need for more people to know about the place so as to ensure that more people visit the place. As a result, the community should come up with ways of ensuring that information about their community-based tourism reached every part of the world. It may be done through having a website and online marketing. Another efficient way of marketing is through travel agents in every continent and country. Most people obtain information from travel agents in their country. They are the ones who advise people on the best places to visit. The community should thus ensure that travel agents around the world know about their tourism activity and that they advise tourist to visit the community (Hussin 50).
There are several recommendations for communities which undertake community-based rural tourism. The first is to ensure that they have the relevant skills required to run the activity. All communities must first ensure that they equip themselves with the skills and knowledge required to run the tourism activity. They should also ensure that all community members are on board with the idea and that they agree from the beginning of a community-based rural tourism activity within the community. Moreover, they should ensure all members of the community benefit equally from the activity. It helps to ensure unison as well as the commitment of all community members to the activity.
Another key recommendation relates to conservation. Most community traditions tend to be contaminated when mixed with other communities. For instance, community members may adopt certain things from the tourists which they begin to practice, and they end up destroying the unique qualities and characteristics of their community that attracted tourists. The community members ought to be vigilant about such changes. They should ensure that they maintain their cultural heritage and traditions and let the tourists brow from them other than the vice versa.
In conclusion, community-based rural tourism is a great activity. Through it, community members obtain several benefits. The benefits may include increased living standards. The improvement of living standards is accrued from the financial benefits the community members receive from the tourist. It may also be due to the non-financial benefits such as healthcare improvement, infrastructure, and education which they receive. To ensure sustainability, the dimensions ought to be observed. They include conservation; marketing; collaboration and networking; benefit to the community; and community empowerment, involvement, and leadership. The most important of them is conservation and marketing. The community should also be in a position to run the activity without any direct assistance. They can, however, be indirectly assisted by agencies which they collaborate with, such as travel agencies, the government, and NGOs.
Work Cited
Hussin, R. "Sustainable community-based tourism (CBT) through homestay programmed in Sabah, East Malaysia." In Proceeding of the Social Sciences Research (2014): 41-61.
Kayat, Kalsom. Community-Based Rural Tourism:A Proposed Sustainability Framework. Malysia: EDP Sciences, 2014. print.
—. "Success criteria in community-based rural tourism: the case of the homestay programmes in Langkawi, Malaysia." 2014.
Okech, R. "Rural tourism as a sustainable development alternative: An analysis with special reference to Luanda, Kenya." Special Issue: Sustainability, Tourism & Environment in the Shift of a Millenium: A Peripheral View (2012): 36-54.
S.A. Jamal, N. Othman, N.M.N. Muhammad. "The Moderating Influence of Psychographics in Homestay Tourism in Malaysia." Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing (2011): 48–61.
