Over the last two decades, there have been dynamic shifts in the sustainable tourism landscape; from legislation to entry of new players and emergence and redefinition of concepts. But if you ask me where the most dynamic shifts have unfolded, I’d point straight to the social impact space. Changes here have been fascinating, and at times perplexing. Yet at the core of every shift in the social impact space, has been host communities, as if they are the constant in the sustainability discourse.
Over the years, in a quest to find meaningful models of engagement with communities, I have co-designed frameworks around community engagement, ownership, empowerment, benefit sharing, stakeholder voices, and governance. I’ve developed tools to measure sustainability, with community in mind. I’ve helped set up awards to honour sustainability. I’ve steered a tourism association, fundraised for community tourism, and led a land conservation trust focused on legal ownership and long-term protection. I’ve helped shape policies. I’ve implemented and managed more community-based tourism projects than I can count. All driven by desire to see thriving communities
Have they all been successful? No. Lessons learnt? Absolutely
So, nothing prepared me for news I got last week of a struggling community conserved area, rich in biodiversity, tourism ready, but on the brink of giving in to commercial agriculture, because of unmet tourism promise among other challenges. I struggled to forgive tourism.
It made me think about the vast African landscapes, protected through tourism and ask why the value of biodiversity should be measured through the lens of tourism. Back in 2009, I was part of a pioneering effort in the Maasai Mara to flip that narrative. We worked with resource economists to quantify the value of biodiversity, not just as scenery, but as capital. The idea was bold: we wanted to determine what tourism should pay per bed, per person, per year to operate in a community conservancy. We asked many questions: What was the opportunity lost for communities through tourism? What about losses that could not be compensated economically? It was groundbreaking conversations, and it made sense. We figured out a different economic model. But even then, when it came to implementation, tourism investors pushed back. Bringing up the usual arguments of seasons, risks, visitor numbers, existing rates etc. The model was compromised at implementation. A longer story for another day.
Listening to the story of the challenged community conserved area, rich in biodiversity and culture and given hope by tourism and tourism ready, but now economically unstable and desperate, I couldn’t help but think of the future of community based/led tourism in biodiversity rich areas of Africa. Can they can count on tourism to safeguard their future. Disrupted or empowered?