Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Business, Economics, Management Science (BEMS 2019)

Capacity Building of Community-based Ecotourism in Developing Nations: A Case of Mei Zhou, China

Authors
Shuyi Tang
Corresponding Author
Shuyi Tang
Available Online May 2019.
DOI
10.2991/bems-19.2019.105How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Ecotourism; Community-based ecotourism; Capacity building; Community participation.
Abstract

Tourism has become the most rapidly growing industry worldwide and ecotourism is considered as the fastest growing tourism segment. Ecotourism is a method to conserve the environment while stimulating local economy. However, it ignores one key element of sustainable development, the local community. Community-based ecotourism (CBET) is a kind of ecotourism that pays more attention on community’s benefits, community participation and empower communities. However, the lack of community capacity is the major barrier to effective and sustainable tourism development. Capacity building (CB) is defined based on the concept of six capitals: intrinsic, political, financial, physical, human and social capital. This study illustrates the current situation of CB and CBET in less developed areas and discusses whether CBET development is reality or rhetoric in these sites based on a case study conducted in Qiaoxi Village of Meizhou, China. It finds that financial capital, infrastructure, particularly interpretation system, as well as skills and education of labors are limited. In addition, local community has restricted access to decision-making due to the government-dominated development model. There is a gap between theoretical and practical community-based ecotourism in this place.

Copyright
© 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Download article (PDF)

Volume Title
Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Business, Economics, Management Science (BEMS 2019)
Series
Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research
Publication Date
May 2019
ISBN
10.2991/bems-19.2019.105
ISSN
2352-5428
DOI
10.2991/bems-19.2019.105How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - CONF
AU  - Shuyi Tang
PY  - 2019/05
DA  - 2019/05
TI  - Capacity Building of Community-based Ecotourism in Developing Nations: A Case of Mei Zhou, China
BT  - Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Business, Economics, Management Science (BEMS 2019)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 582
EP  - 605
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/bems-19.2019.105
DO  - 10.2991/bems-19.2019.105
ID  - Tang2019/05
ER  -