IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i18p4977-d266476.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable Transformative Economy: Community-Based Ecotourism

Author

Listed:
  • Marin Kim

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, No. 35, Qinghua East Road, Haidian District, 100083 Beijing, China)

  • Yi Xie

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, No. 35, Qinghua East Road, Haidian District, 100083 Beijing, China)

  • Giuseppe T. Cirella

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Gdansk, 81-824 Sopot, Poland)

Abstract

Ecotourism has a high potential impact on remote communities, by improving economic opportunity and natural resources conservation, and is increasingly accepted as an alternative livelihood for rural people. This study examines ecotourism development from the perspective of participation and economic impact for the Bousra people in Cambodia. A total of 237 households were selected as the sample size. Data collection was carried out with face-to-face interviews and analyzed using logistic regression and ordinary least square methods. Results revealed that local households depend mostly on agriculture (i.e., crop plantation and farming) and utilize ecotourism as a secondary source of income. Most households acknowledged ecotourism had a positive impact on environmental, social, and economic perspectives, while some signaled negative backlash due to depleted natural resources and impact on local culture. Household participation in ecotourism was not significantly affected from assistance issued by government or non-governmental organizations. However, causal relationships were found based on household demographic factors, attitude to environmental conservation, and village life. It was shown that the percentage of people involvement in ecotourism is high, but their income percentage is low due to education, skill, and capacity to expand. As a low-impact alternative to standard commercial tourism, community-based ecotourism has potential in becoming a transformative form of economics for local communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Marin Kim & Yi Xie & Giuseppe T. Cirella, 2019. "Sustainable Transformative Economy: Community-Based Ecotourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:18:p:4977-:d:266476
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/18/4977/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/18/4977/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giuseppe T. Cirella & Felix O. Iyalomhe & Anne Jensen & Oluwole O. Akiyode, 2018. "Exploring Community of Practice in Uganda’s Public Sector: Environmental Impact Assessment Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Reimer, J.K. (Kila) & Walter, Pierre, 2013. "How do you know it when you see it? Community-based ecotourism in the Cardamom Mountains of southwestern Cambodia," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 122-132.
    3. Aswin Sangpikul, 2017. "Ecotourism Impacts on the Economy, Society and Environment of Thailand," Journal of Reviews on Global Economics, Lifescience Global, vol. 6, pages 302-312.
    4. Wunder, Sven, 2000. "Ecotourism and economic incentives -- an empirical approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 465-479, March.
    5. Khima Nand Balodi & Suneet Naithani & Jatinder Kaur & Ashutosh Singh & Amit Singh Chauhan, 2014. "Eco-tourism: A Sustainable Livelihood Option for Mountainous Communities in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, India," Journal of Studies in Dynamics and Change (JSDC), ISSN: 2348-7038, Voices of Inclusive Change and Expressions- (VOICE) Trust, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, vol. 1(8), pages 320-327., December.
    6. Lonn, Pichdara & Mizoue, Nobuya & Ota, Tetsuji & Kajisa, Tsuyoshi & Yoshida, Shigejiro, 2018. "Evaluating the Contribution of Community-based Ecotourism (CBET) to Household Income and Livelihood Changes: A Case Study of the Chambok CBET Program in Cambodia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 62-69.
    7. Tisdell, Clem, 2003. "Economic Aspects of Ecotourism: Wildlife-based Tourism and Its Contribution to Nature," Sri Lankan Journal of Agricultural Economics, Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA), vol. 5, pages 1-14.
    8. Ma, Ben & Cai, Zhen & Zheng, Jie & Wen, Yali, 2019. "Conservation, ecotourism, poverty, and income inequality – A case study of nature reserves in Qinling, China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 236-244.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marvin Ruano & Chien-Yi Huang & Phi-Hung Nguyen & Lan-Anh Thi Nguyen & Hong-Quan Le & Linh-Chi Tran, 2023. "Enhancing Sustainability in Belize’s Ecotourism Sector: A Fuzzy Delphi and Fuzzy DEMATEL Investigation of Key Indicators," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-29, June.
    2. Peter Chrastina & Pavel Hronček & Bohuslava Gregorová & Michaela Žoncová, 2020. "Land-Use Changes of Historical Rural Landscape—Heritage, Protection, and Sustainable Ecotourism: Case Study of Slovak Exclave Čív (Piliscsév) in Komárom-Esztergom County (Hungary)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-25, July.
    3. Giuseppe T. Cirella & Anatoliy G. Goncharuk & Corrado lo Storto & Alessio Russo, 2020. "Exploring Social Sustainability and Economic Practices: Multi-Journal Compendium," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-7, February.
    4. Endalkachew Teshome & Gebreyes Aberaw & Debrework Tesgera & Firdyiwok Abebe, 2023. "The untold tourism potentials of Bela Mountain, for community-based-ecotourism development, ecosystem conservation and livelihood improvement, Waghimera Zone, Ethiopia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 3923-3944, May.
    5. Narges Banaeian & Morteza Zangeneh & Sean Clark, 2020. "Trends and Future Directions in Crop Energy Analyses: A Focus on Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-23, November.
    6. Giuseppe T. Cirella & Alessio Russo, 2019. "Special Issue Sustainable Interdisciplinarity: Human–Nature Relations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-5, December.
    7. Iskandar Zainuddin Rela & Abd Hair Awang & Zaimah Ramli & Yani Taufik & Sarmila Md Sum & Mahazan Muhammad, 2020. "Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Community Resilience: Empirical Evidence in the Nickel Mining Industry in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-17, February.
    8. Alejandra Tauro & Jaime Ojeda & Terrance Caviness & Kelli P. Moses & René Moreno-Terrazas & T. Wright & Danqiong Zhu & Alexandria K. Poole & Francisca Massardo & Ricardo Rozzi, 2021. "Field Environmental Philosophy: A Biocultural Ethic Approach to Education and Ecotourism for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-22, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Madhumita Das & Bani Chatterjee, 2020. "Livelihood In Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, India: An Impact Assessment Of Ecotourism Practices," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(03), pages 653-681, June.
    2. Lonn, Pichdara & Mizoue, Nobuya & Ota, Tetsuji & Kajisa, Tsuyoshi & Yoshida, Shigejiro, 2018. "Evaluating the Contribution of Community-based Ecotourism (CBET) to Household Income and Livelihood Changes: A Case Study of the Chambok CBET Program in Cambodia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 62-69.
    3. Madhumita Das & Bani Chatterjee, 2015. "Ecotourism and Empowerment: A Case Analysis of Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha, India," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 4(2), pages 136-145, July.
    4. Yaw Boakye Agyeman & Augustine Oti Yeboah & Enoch Ashie, 2019. "Protected areas and poverty reduction: The role of ecotourism livelihood in local communities in Ghana," Community Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(1), pages 73-91, January.
    5. Hajjar, Reem & Newton, Peter & Ihalainen, Markus & Agrawal, Arun & Alix-Garcia, Jennifer & Castle, Sarah E. & Erbaugh, James T. & Gabay, Monica & Hughes, Karl & Mawutor, Samuel & Pacheco, Pablo & Scho, 2021. "Levers for alleviating poverty in forests," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    6. Ben Ma & Yuqian Zhang & Yilei Hou & Yali Wen, 2020. "Do Protected Areas Matter? A Systematic Review of the Social and Ecological Impacts of the Establishment of Protected Areas," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-13, October.
    7. Ben Ma & Yali Wen, 2019. "Community Participation and Preferences Regarding Conservation and Development Policies in China’s Giant Panda Nature Reserves," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-17, September.
    8. Yésica Mayett-Moreno & Liz Farleidy Villarraga-Flórez & Sandra Rodríguez-Piñeros, 2017. "Young Farmers’ Perceptions about Forest Management for Ecotourism as an Alternative for Development, in Puebla, Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-13, June.
    9. Smith, Joyotee & Scherr, Sara J., 2003. "Capturing the Value of Forest Carbon for Local Livelihoods," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 2143-2160, December.
    10. Jaiswal, Sreeja & Balietti, Anca & Schäffer, Daniel, 2023. "Environmental Protection and Labor Market Composition," Working Papers 0736, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    11. Carlos Mestanza & Hilter Figueroa Saavedra & Isabel Domínguez Gaibor & Manuel Abarca Zaquinaula & Rita Lara Váscones & Oswaldo Malla Pacheco, 2018. "Conflict and Impacts Generated by the Filming of Discovery Channel’s Reality Series “Naked and Afraid” in the Amazon: A Special Case in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, Ecuador," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    12. Jacobus Koens & Carel Dieperink & Miriam Miranda, 2009. "Ecotourism as a development strategy: experiences from Costa Rica," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 11(6), pages 1225-1237, December.
    13. Imran, Sophia & Alam, Khorshed & Beaumont, Narelle, 2014. "Environmental orientations and environmental behaviour: Perceptions of protected area tourism stakeholders," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 290-299.
    14. Sood, Jyoti & Lynch, Paul & Anastasiadou, Constantia, 2017. "Community non-participation in homestays in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 332-347.
    15. Torres-Sovero, Claudia & González, José A. & Martín-López, Berta & Kirkby, Christopher A., 2012. "Social–ecological factors influencing tourist satisfaction in three ecotourism lodges in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 545-552.
    16. Matias, Denise Margaret S. & Tambo, Justice A. & Stellmacher, Till & Borgemeister, Christian & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2018. "Commercializing traditional non-timber forest products: An integrated value chain analysis of honey from giant honey bees in Palawan, Philippines," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 223-231.
    17. Wood, Apanie L. & Butler, James R.A. & Sheaves, Marcus & Wani, Jacob, 2013. "Sport fisheries: Opportunities and challenges for diversifying coastal livelihoods in the Pacific," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 305-314.
    18. Chaminuka, P. & Groeneveld, R.A. & Selomane, A.O. & van Ierland, E.C., 2012. "Tourist preferences for ecotourism in rural communities adjacent to Kruger National Park: A choice experiment approach," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 168-176.
    19. Zain ul Abedin Janjua & Gengeswari Krishnapillai & Mobashar Rahman, 2021. "A Systematic Literature Review of Rural Homestays and Sustainability in Tourism," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.
    20. Seweryn Zielinski & Yoonjeong Jeong & Seong-il Kim & Celene B. Milanés, 2020. "Why Community-Based Tourism and Rural Tourism in Developing and Developed Nations are Treated Differently? A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-21, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:18:p:4977-:d:266476. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.