Capacity Building of Community-based Ecotourism in Developing Nations: A Case of Mei Zhou, China

Tourism has become the most rapidly growing industry worldwide and ecotourism is considered as the fastest growing tourism segment. Ecotourism is a method to conserve the environment while stimulating local economy. However, it ignores one key element of sustainable development, the local community. Community-based ecotourism (CBET) is a kind of ecotourism that pays more attention on community’s benefits, community participation and empower communities. However, the lack of community capacity is the major barrier to effective and sustainable tourism development. Capacity building (CB) is defined based on the concept of six capitals: intrinsic, political, financial, physical, human and social capital. This study illustrates the current situation of CB and CBET in less developed areas and discusses whether CBET development is reality or rhetoric in these sites based on a case study conducted in Qiaoxi Village of Meizhou, China. It finds that financial capital, infrastructure, particularly interpretation system, as well as skills and education of labors are limited. In addition, local community has restricted access to decision-making due to the government-dominated development model. There is a gap between theoretical and practical community-based ecotourism in this place.