Ecotourism development strategies and the importance of local community engagement

Farangiz Khaledi Koure (), Marzieh Hajjarian (), Omid Hossein Zadeh (), Ahmad Alijanpour () and Razieh Mosadeghi ()
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Farangiz Khaledi Koure: Urmia University
Marzieh Hajjarian: Urmia University
Omid Hossein Zadeh: Urmia University
Ahmad Alijanpour: Urmia University
Razieh Mosadeghi: Griffith University

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2023, vol. 25, issue 7, No 41, 6849-6877

Abstract: Abstract Ecotourism plays a critical strategic role in regional development. In many remote communities, ecotourism is the main contributing factor in their economic growth. The role of ecotourism development in the sustainability of the local economy is widely known. However, the local communities’ role in the development of the industry has been neglected. The presented study, therefore, examines the importance of community engagement as the missing link in the successful development of the ecotourism industry. This research uses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats methodology and analytic network process technique to determine the importance of the strategies directly related to the local community in comparison to other ecotourism development strategies. Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve, in northwest Iran, was used as a case study. A decision-making model containing 20 clusters, 69 sub-factors, and seven alternatives were developed in SuperDecisions software. The results showed in overall, the strategies directly related to the local community are more effective than all the other strategies. There were significant differences between the local community’s point of view and local authorities on the importance of community engagement. The results also indicated lack of trust and willingness of local authorities had been the main contributions in unsuccessful community engagement programs in the region.

Keywords: Community engagement; Local communities; Decision-making; Strategic planning; Empowering; Carrying capacity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02338-y

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