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  • Travel Resources
    • What is Responsible Tourism?
    • How to be a Sustainable Traveller
    • What is Community-based Tourism
    • Responsible Volunteering
    • The Rise of Impact Travel
    • Ethical Animal Encounters
    • The Importance of Fair Trade
    • Responsible Travel Websites
    • Sustainable Tourism Organisations & Experiences
    • Sustainable Tourism Podcasts
    • Travel Insurance (that covers COVID-19)
  • About
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The Altruistic Traveller

News & Resources On Advocating For a Better Tourism Industry

Community-based Tourism

by Bianca Caruana October 7, 2018May 3, 2021

Tourism is a trillion-dollar industry and responsible tourism can often provide a sustainable income for marginalised communities around the world.

Community-based tourism is a type of tourism that emphasises the development of local communities. These communities open their homes to visitors and provide local experiences that allow the tourist to immerse themselves into local life, creating a cultural exchange and the opportunity to learn different traditions.

With many travellers now looking for off-the-beaten-path experiences, community-based tourism brings opportunity for both social and economic growth in regions that are often marginalised and remote.

Read how community-based tourism is helping women in India

Community-based tourism can cover many experiences including:

  • Homestays
  • Cooking classes
  • Tours run by locals
  • Traditional Arts & Dance Performances
  • Handicrafts workshops

More and more communities are participating in these types of programs with platforms such as I Like Local & Homestay.com giving them the chance to share their experiences with a wider audience.

Read about how community-based tourism is changing the lives of rural Cambodians

Lokal Travels is a marketplace for booking local, sustainable adventures around the world. They carefully select each experience on our site to make sure it provides an amazing travel experience and benefits back to the local community.

lokal-travels

Community-based tourism & cultural appropriation

Cultural appropriation by definition is “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.” When visiting a foreign land, it is important that we are respectful of diverse customs and traditions.

Some ways to avoid cultural appropriation are:

  • Research and acknowledge the traditional owners of the land you are visiting
  • Take a genuine interest in the cultural traditions of the place you are visiting
  • Respect any sacred traditions or cultural rituals
  • Support locally run businesses and celebrate local traditions, including in the arts sector

Related reading: When exchange edges out appropriation: one NGO’s perspective

Related reading: A Tourism Narrative For the (Local) People, By the (Local) People

 

Community-based tourism resources

Download the Nomads Giving Back! Global Giving Back Guide

Articles about Community-based Tourism

  • fair-trade-kathmandu-nepal A Sustainable & Fair Trade Guide to Shopping in Kathmandu Nepal (2023) - While in Kathmandu make an ethical choice and support local producers with the help of this list of fair trade shops in Nepal's capital. Continue Reading
  • sierra-leone-marathon The one with the impact marathon in Sierra Leone - Audio version available ⬆️ ___ This June, on behalf of RunTheWorld, I joined the Sierra Leone Marathon - an annual event hosted by the NGO, Street Child, with the aim to bring… Continue Reading
  • The one before the marathon in Sierra Leone - This June, I will challenge myself in a rather unique and unconventional way and run my first ever half-marathon in West Africa’s Sierra Leone Continue Reading
  • mount-elbrus-photo Mountaineering & Sustainable Development on Mount Elbrus, Russia - Elbrus4Alpinists is a sustainable development project aiming to open the Northwest face of Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe and one of the world’s “Seven Summits”, as a climbing route. In… Continue Reading
  • Support Nepal through COVID-19 - Feature image of a home in the hills of Nepal How to help Nepal through the COVID-19 pandemic - Nepal has been severely affected by COVID-19, both in the area of health and in the economic fallout related to strict lockdowns, business closures and the large decline in tourism.   Months of… Continue Reading
  • Remote work skillshare with impact in Indonesia Providing Remote Work Opportunities To Local Communities Through Skill-sharing - The opportunity to become a remote worker has its privileges. One requires a good education, experience in a remote-based job role, and access to the tools and resources to excel in remote… Continue Reading
  • rebuild-nepal Helping to Rebuild Nepal | Volunteering with Conscious Impact Part 1 - On the 25th of April 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people and injuring nearly 22,000. This earthquake was one of the darkest days in Nepal’s history, 800,000 homes… Continue Reading
  • Banana Paper Production Provides Opportunities for Women in Cambodia - Find out how sustainable paper made out of banana leaves is providing alternative income to impoverished women in Cambodia. Continue Reading
  • From Trash to Treasure – How Organisations in Cambodia are Tackling the Problem with Trash - From trash to treasure, these organisations in Cambodia are tackling the problem with trash with some leading initiatives to rid their country of plastic. Continue Reading
  • fernweh-fair-travel-womens-empowerment-india Empowering Communities in the Himalayas through Sustainable Tourism - At the feet of the Himalayas responsible tourism company Fernweh Fair Travel has introduced income-generating programs into remote village communities in India's northern region of Gopeshwar, Uttarakhand. Through the implementation of programs… Continue Reading
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We are Bianca & Faye, two passionate storytellers with a common mission to share ways in which tourism can be approached in a more sustainable way. We share discussions, ideas and recommendations on how to travel with more compassion, integrity and conscious awareness.

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