Kamble, Zilmiyah, Yang, Ziwei, and Yap, Joel Qi Hong (2026) Community-Based Tourism and Social Sustainability: A Scoping Review of Planning Approaches for Equity, Inclusion, and Empowerment. In: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. pp. 253-260. From: ICSIMAT 2025: 12th International Conference of Strategic Innovative Marketing and Tourism, 26-30 September 2025, Olympus Riviera, Greece.

Preview

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (217kB) | Preview

Abstract

Community-based tourism (CBT) is often promoted as a socially sustainable alternative to mass tourism, aiming to empower local communities through participatory planning, equitable benefit-sharing, and inclusive decision-making. However, its effectiveness in delivering equity, inclusion, and empowerment remains unclear. This scoping review examines 25 years (2000–2025) of academic and grey literature on CBT planning approaches addressing social dimensions, using the Arksey and O’Malley framework and drawing from four multidisciplinary databases: Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, and ProQuest. Findings reveal inconsistent definitions and indicators of social sustainability, with predominant focus on economic empowerment, often neglecting political and cultural inclusion. Local participation in planning is limited to consultation, lacking decision-making authority, and planning remains largely top–down. Structural issues such as power asymmetries, social exclusion, and governance deficits are underexplored. Intersectional analyses considering gender, ethnicity, or disability’s influence are rare. Community involvement is symbolic than transformative. Regional representation is uneven, with a concentration of studies in specific locales, overlooking small island states and post-conflict settings. This review calls for future research focused on intersectionality, meaningful empowerment, and participatory methods, key to fostering inclusive, equitable, and socially just tourism.

Item ID:	90971
Item Type:	Conference Item (Research - E1)
ISBN:	978-3-032-12968-0
Keywords:	Community-based tourism; Social sustainability; Tourism planning
Copyright Information:	This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
Date Deposited:	20 May 2026 00:52
FoR Codes:	35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3508 Tourism > 350803 Tourism management @ 60% 35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3508 Tourism > 350801 Impacts of tourism @ 40%
SEO Codes:	11 COMMERCIAL SERVICES AND TOURISM > 1104 Tourism services > 110402 Socio-cultural issues in tourism @ 90% 11 COMMERCIAL SERVICES AND TOURISM > 1104 Tourism services > 110401 Economic issues in tourism @ 10%
Downloads:	Total: 1 Last 12 Months: 1
	More Statistics