Community-Based Cultural Tourism and Local Economic Development: A Data-Driven Management Analysis

Abstract

CBCT has been found to be one of the effective strategies of facilitating sustainable tourism and improving the economies of the locals. CBCT aims to ensure that tourism can produce similar inclusive economic benefits and help preserve cultural heritage through the use of a pluralist approach by placing local communities at the heart of tourism planning and management. There is however limited empirical evidence on its economic effects especially in a managerial approach. This paper will provide a descriptive and exploratory analysis of the correlation between community-based cultural tourism and local economic growth in the chosen cultural tourism destinations based on available data on the topic. Primary data consisted of household survey and stakeholders questionnaires, and they were supplemented by secondary tourism and economic statistics. An important set of CBCT indicators, such as community participation, cultural activity intensity, and ownership of tourism enterprises at the local level were analysed in line with economic development indicators, namely household income, job creation, and diversification of livelihoods. The correlation, trend and descriptive statistics methods were used to investigate tourism activities and their associations with economic outcomes. These findings suggest that the community in which the cultural tourism is individually more active and whose cultural tourism programme is managed locally has better economic results, especially in employment rates and increase of income. The results show relevance of participatory style of management and tourism models rooted in locals in maximization of development benefits. The research has made a contribution to the tourism and management literature because it offers empirical evidence of the economic significance of CBCT and also has implications to the policymakers and tourism planners who seek to develop broad and sustainable cultural tourism plans.