Contribution of community-based tourism to fostering sustainable tourism development

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of community-based tourism factors on sustainable tourism development, investigate the consequences of community-based tourism on local communities, including the distribution of benefits and any potential negative repercussions, and explore the long-term viability of tourism ventures and their influence on local resources. The emphasis on sustainable tourism development in Oman arose as the nation sought to reduce its reliance on oil according to Oman Vision 2040. The contribution of CBT to this vision necessitates a shared understanding among policymakers, tourism practitioners, and local communities. Preliminary data was collected through online questionnaires from 402 respondents from local community, representatives of tourism sector and tourists in Dhofar region of Oman. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyse the data by WarpPLS software. The findings indicate that the three factors of community-based tourism (i.e., Economic Factor, Social Factor, and Environmental Factor) have significantly affect Sustainable Tourism Development (STD). This work is among the first empirical studies in this field, and its results can be useful for tourism sector to increase a better awareness of the potential advantages and difficulties of CBT as well as how to apply it in their particular domains.