There are numerous obstacles to success of community based tourism albeit, to commence with, a community is a group individuals with a common kind of cooperate responsible and the capacity to draw decisions through representative bodies. On the same vein, a community based tourism is an as facet of tourism in which the locals residents who are most often, comprise of the poor, the rural and the economically disenfranchised. These people call the pay courtesy calls or visit to them] the local resident and they offer them the “would be” requisite accommodation. The proceeding piece of writing bellow is thence an exhaustive exposition of an argumentative approach to evaluated setbacks of community based tourism and it moves as follows.
Sustainable tourism being the due process of paying visits to a foreign place or area by a tourist with the prime intent of contributing positively to its environment or ecology, its society and economy. This is often an embodiment of all aspects of sustainable community based tourism namely; economic sustainability which entails purchasing the available local produce, benefitting from locally available services, and ensuring that the profits accrued are left in the community thereof.
The second aspect that is social sustainability that comprises of the respect for basic entitlements or essential human rights, increasing availability and accessibility of the would be existing opportunities, and safeguarding against ills such as exploitation from any quarter in the locals and tourists nexus and ecotourism that deals with the process of moving into a region impacting lightly on ones departure especially in relevance to conservation of energy resources, water resources , wildlife and land. It equally deals with the ecosystem maintenance such as vegetation and waterways as well as town and suburbs areas of attraction. Thence the first problem to effective community based tourism is erosion of culture. In this case the there lies often an imminent threat to erosion of the commonly accepted standards of life in the local set up. For example the tourist from the western part of the world in a remote Kenyan rural set up that upholds its cultural practices may easily give up their cultural orientation through assimilation and compromise and end up having its ways of life polluted. This may happen through the continual and consistent cultural associations.
Secondly, poor infrastructural facilities have been a hindrance to sustainable community based tourism in that most of the areas of interest are often in the peripheries of the countries of interest and have poorly modified in communication systems making travelling overtly hectic, and locomotion too cumbersome especially to those tourists [peculiar with such extremes of adversity. Eating habits too has largely affected the affectivity of community based tourism in that most of the visiting tourists would be overly unfamiliar with the available local meal products hence would be ill adjusted. Communication too has faced stumbling blocks as there is always a prevalent language barrier given that most of the local residents have limited knowledge in foreign languages. With communication barrier as a bottleneck to the affectivity of sustainable tourism the foreign visiting become poorly socialized into the locals’ way of life which in most cases leads to misrepresentation of lesions learnt and information drawn from the people visited.
Thirdly, climatic conditions have bottlenecked sustainable community based tourism as the contemporal weather patterns are in this modern times or day and age greatly unpredictable making travel challenges too difficult to fathom. Traditions that define the prime components communal life have been obstacle too to tourism. For example a tradition that bars the free mixing of opposite sexes will definitely without doubt deprive the tourists of holistic information about the locals cooperate life philosophies. Moreover illiteracy that is very prevalent in the developing states has caused a lot of impediments to the sustainability of community based tourism. The in ability to read and write often makes the local inhabitants ill equipped with prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental in processing feedback responses in communication and adding valor to social integration. Along the same breath, civilization also is a great impediment to effective community based tourism as the perception accorded it has been one of a conflicting nature and its relativism has led many in an endless and ugly scenario of aping blindly of the would be perceived ones of hybrid cultures.
The level of technological know how impedes the success of community based tourism in that, much of the contemporal essential are techno driven and the locals suffer in a blanketed ignorance that produces in them a technophobic tendencies that slows their fluidity in social integration. In the similar vein, with poor technology there are always poor these places have become poor network prone zones. This has been coupled with the apparent lack of skills that is more often than note a characteristic of these areas since most of the fairly educated people or forks leave for urban set up in order to partake of the utility of monuments of human civilization and absence of institutions that help promote effective community speared tourism are too weak and the administrative infrastructure is greatly weakened as they lack autonomy and most often the never have well established preeminent agendas in tourism management
Next, inadequate resources blocks the prosperity of developing a successful community based tourism as there lies a lot of pressures on the available resources and this places a strain in existence as the people left in a state of strive creating a jungle kind of life that is a progenitor for survival for the fittest. This born and bred state of competition creates a number of attendant evils such as the prevalent theft, prostitution and an overly capitalistic society that fails to have an others centered attitude that is a priori of any would be developing nation. This chronic state of strain too has led to a consistent an ugly consistent rearing face of the apparent widening gap between the rich and the poor. These admixtures of attendant ills end up corrupting the preexistent socio economic fabric that had [preeminence in the community toured. The nature of resources in question has been equally at issue with these would be much needed prosperity in communal based tourism. For example, there may be inadequate tourist sites in the area of interest, such as the targeted wildlife, the remains of cultural artifacts, the fascinating natural resources like beaches, caves e.t.c
Poor government policies has been a big hindrance to the furtherance of community based tourism too. Since most governments especially in the developing regions of the world have little if any allocation from their budgetary treatment to the improvement of tourism. This leaves the tourist sites in poor shape so much such that the sites lack their potent as a poignant attraction area. The local residents thence, find themselves in a devastated situation of powerlessness in making better the tourists sites and collection of the “would be” much needed artifacts that go inter ndem with the monuments of attractions. Save from monetary or pecuniary allocation from the government there are often incentives that are much needed in the development of tourism. In addition to the same points on government indifference to the betterment of local tourism, there is also lack of advertisement on the available sites and items of attractions. Without the adverts exposure the visiting tourist will be ill informed on the areas of attractions and the sand witched materials of the same line of interest.
Returns obtained from the tourism treatise have been a formidable determinant of the speedy growth of sustainable community based tourism. In areas where in the accrued interest is perceived as inadequate the tourism would have a slanting growth. Hence the returns obtained as assed by the local residents have been a strong facto not to be ignored in assessment of the future of tourism. Hence negative return or extremely low return is an impediment to the progress of community based tourism. Employment has been another factor that lies at the heart of tourism development. Those who are the beneficiaries has enormously affected the rate of tourist continual visits as this notion easily translates into either into an amicable relationship between the locals and the tourists and it is upon these relationship that future positive developments are anchored. The level of exchange of goods and services too may impede or make fluid the future of tourism. Whence, poor services bottlenecks tourism as tourists may not be comfortable with less fulfilling provision of services and availability of goods that fail to meet the tourists’ expectations. Therefore ion a more or less general and panoramic view the poor the goods and services rendered to the foreign visiting tourist the less the prosperity of communal based tourism.
Poverty is another stain in the development and progress of tourism since in an overly economically marginalized areas will definitely lack adequate required facilitates that would host the tourists such as accommodation, health equipment just to mention a few. With poverty the locals purchasing power will overly low and trade and trading activities will overtly be of migre impact as the market is likely to be lad denned with goods of poor quality that fall much lower than the tourists needs hence they would be less motivated. Poverty will make the people over reliant on other external sources hence dependant creating a scenario wherein the level of site developments lack autonomy as it is subject to those that aid its development. High level of birthrate has been an anti progress of community based tourism as the overpopulated masses not only put a lot of strain in the available resources but also make the services offered be of low quality leading to poor living standards and abhorred life conditions which are very astounding. This aftermath of poverty play a great role in slowing down the level of sustainable tourism. Political stability is a another instrument that impedes tourism progress as foreigners may not be content to come to regions that lack peaceful coexistence and social cohesion, neither would they be willing to attend to areas that are politically unstable, hence absence of peace and tranquility is a fervent obstacle to the development of community oriented tourism.
The extreme extent of diversity and intolerances is a challenge to tourism as the visitors may not wish to be helpless victims of antics of a community that strives to uphold its segregationist tendencies. Above all natural catastrophes have posed a great challenge to the success of tourism since they make areas inaccessible and life in these places seriously unbearable. It then follows without doubt that, such areas will have a slumping tourist growth. Along the same thread epidemics also poise a great threat to the development of tourism wherein such would apply. Lastly conflict prone areas will be adversely affected thus reducing the effectively of a community based tourism since most tourists will be less motivated to pay courtesy calls to conflict oriental zones. They will again be demoralized by wrangles in the management of a tourist organization that may often manifest itself in embezzlement of tourist funds and the ultimate nil return to community at large.
Contrarily, there are strengths that can be cultivated from the paltry weaknesses if they are amicably addressed that will form the cradle of a speedy development of a sustainable community based tourism. For example, establishment of good infrastructural facilities, formulation of a pro tourist government policy, opening up of tourist sites through good adverts and addressing the chronic levels of poverty will lead to an automatic steady rise in tourism and a great impact in the living standards of the resident at large. Thence, challenges can be translated into strengths when amicably addressed hence since the multifaceted obstacle have never adequately found proper redress it is worth making a concluding not that community based tourism is a partial success in realizing a sustainable community tourism per se. this is so because these challenges can never be overhauled in totality they can only be managed since that are projections of the fallibility of mankind.
There are a range of case studies carried out in line with sustainable communal based tourism, for example, ‘ The kumarakom: A Case Study of sustainable Tourism’ features an exhilarated community at the dawn of tourism industry so much such that the local residents offered their agricultural lands for tourism construction. But, in the long run, tourism contributed little to the development of infrastructure, improvement of services and produce sectors in the region. As indicated in the socio economic survey carried out with EQUATIONS in 2000. Secondly, the Dodds, R] 2011[Koh Phi: Moving Towards or Away from Sustainability. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Management, Vol.15 {3} Pp251-265 and Mc Elroy, J. and Dodd} 2007{what does Sustainable Tourism Mean for Islands ID21 Insights issue 70. P.3
A given sample of views have been posited on sustainable tourism like that it is, an attempt of making little impact on the environment and the local culture whilst developing future opportunities of employment that is much needed by the local folks. A second notion is that sustainable tourism the potential of reducing tourism in many ways, such as, conserving resources, bolstering local economies, promoting tolerance and intercultural understanding, respecting traditions aspirations and assumptions of local residents of areas visited and finally there is the notion of responsible tourism that, merely comprises of a set of code of conduct that slightly supersedes tourism as it entails engagement with tourism at varied levels such as locals, business, tourists or even stakeholders often with an idea of making better or improvement in cognizant that conflicting desires exist and they have to be balanced in order to create a descent hegemony.
In conclusion, with relevance to the precept above there are numerous challenges to effective community based tourism yet; if these challenges are within redress then the success of their treatment can form a yardstick with which to measure sustainability of tourism. This is because the prime objectives of community based tourism are interwoven with the agenda of sustainable tourism. In a critical evaluation of tourisms pros and cones the obstacles that are typical of community oriental tourism can be judged and assessed and this has the capacity of providing a launching pad on which to critique the multifaceted tourism as a whole. It is then imperative to draw a concluding assertion that, the concept of sustainability be it social that encompasses rights and privileges or economic that entails income generational activities like trade, employment , service provisions such as accommodation to the tourists and even political aspect that may deal with tranquility political stability and peace then finally there is the cultural association that would comprise the socialization of a peoples diverse elements that are more often than note very distinct and delinked from each other, this hegemony that arises out of cultural tolerance and accommodation between and among the local populace and the tourists. Community oriented tourism is thence a good tool or instrument for measuring and evaluating the sustainability in tourism as a concept.
Reference
Dodds, R. and Koh Phi (2011), Moving Towards or Away from Sustainability. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Management, Vol.15 {3} Pp251-265
Mc Elroy, J. and Dodd, (2007) what does Sustainable Tourism Mean for Islands ID21 Insights issue 70. P.3
