What this project aims to do is combine the cumulative experience of decades of community tourism development from the international development sector with the experience from the private sector to provide advice and guidance with additional practical elements that are not included in other manuals.
This manual is designed to enable communities to determine whether responsible tourism is “right” for them, how to assess important assets, provide methods for understanding market forces, develop tourism products based on market demand, and then operate them well. It is separated into two parts to address the different stages for different audiences of community tourism development.
Part 1 is based on a strategic planning approach for practitioners, governments, destinations and organizations, either involved in or wishing to embark on a community tourism development journey. The manual includes material on all aspects of the planning process.
Part 2 starts at the stage of setting up community tourism experiences and operations for community organizations and enterprises. This part of the manual gives a detailed overview of additional resources for developing community tourism enterprises, linking directly to Planeterra’s Learning Hub where readers can delve deeply into experience development related changes in market demands, as well as less commonly known success factors for community tourism enterprises based on working with private sector travel companies.
This manual is the result of an international effort to better understand responsible community tourism based on solid research and extensive practice in most parts of the world.
Part 1 of this manual was initially developed in 1997 by an interdisciplinary team from the University of Calgary in Canada made up of: Dr. Walter Jamieson who led the project, Dr. Dianne Draper, Dr. Don Getz, Dr. Tazim Jamal and Janet Baker. The manual was then amended by a team based at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok with Dr. Walter Jamieson as the director of the project together with Dr. Pallavi Mandke and Khun Pawinee Sunalai.
This version of the manual was further enhanced by the participation of Kelly Galaski, based on her 10+ years at the Planeterra Foundation, with additional contributions from members of the Planeterra team including Rhea Simms, Jamie Sweeting, and Alanna Wallace.
