Tosun Timothy

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ased development may provide more opportunities for destination communities that have not yet reaped the benefits of tourism. Proposition 6: Community participation can help satisfy locally identified needs. It is important that tourism development patterns reflect the needs and desires of local communities (Inskeep, 1994). Several examples exist of projects that have failed when the real needs of community were not taken into account (cf. Bradley & Karunadasa, 1989). Thus, projects should be molded to meet people's needs, and not vice versa. While local people do need better hospitals, schools, houses and food, it may be naïve to suggest that tourism will necessarily and automatically address these needs. For example, Long (1991, p. 210) noted that in Santa Cruz, a burgeoning tourist destination in Mexico, Local infrastructure was in some aspect deficient and stores could not maintain adequate supplies and groceries for the burgeoning populace. Public transportation was inadequate; buses had sporadic schedules and taxis were usually full. Residents complained that a visit to the public clinic took an entire day, as there were insufficient facilities and staff for the demand. Medical services in the area had improved according to most of the respondents, but many were still dissatisfied with the services available. Many said they sought out private doctors in the town of Pochutla, an hour's bus ride away. [ M o r e o v e r ] the original residents of Santa Cruz did not have cars and had to walk the kilometer over the hill separating Santa Cruz and La Crucecia to visit people, go to work, seek out services or go to the stores that were divided between the communities. As they walked over the steep hill, cars and trucks raced by, forcing the pedestrians into the drainage ditch along the side of the road. The locals’ use of roads did not appear to have been considered in road design, as no sidewalks were installed. Participatory planning - something quite uncommon in developing societies - may help local people's needs (Timothy, 1999; Tosun, 2000). Communities are the destination of most of travelers...it is in communities that tourism happens. Because of this, tourism industry development and management must be brought effectively to bear in communities. (Blank, 1989, p. 4) The empowerment of the destination community members is essential to maximise the socioeconomic benefits of tourism (Inskeep, 1991). The International Institute of Tourism Studies (1991, p. 9) claimed that resident responsive tourism is the watchword for tomorrow; community demands for active participation in the setting of the tourism agenda and its priorities for tourism development and management cannot be ignored. Community-oriented tourism development requires finding a way of creating more workable partnerships between the tourism industry and local communities and developing facilities both for hosts and guests (Timothy, 1998). The participatory approach leads to a greater sense of empowerment in addressing community problems, as well as greater ownership over the plans and activities that result from the community participation process. As a result, community participation will serve as an educational and empowering process for host communities to become partners with those able to assist them, identify problems and needs, and increasingly assume personal responsibility to plan, manage and control tourism development. Proposition 7: Community participation strengthens the democratisation process in tourist destinations. As part of the metamorphosis of the democratic process ... the residents of communities and regions affected by tourism are demanding to be involved in the decisions affecting their development. (Ritchie, 1993, p. 379). In this regard, community involvement in tourism development has become a new standard in tourism planning (Prentice, 1993). The more participatory the tourism development process is, the more feedback and input in various forms will flow toward official bodies, which might narrow the gap between the community and bureaucratic decision-makers. Communication between communities and decision-makers must be a twoway process from the bottom up and the top down. This democratisation process has the potential to increase awareness and interest within the community about local and regional issues - something badly needed in many tourist destinations, particularly in developing countries. Initiating community participation and ultimately community control may be more crucial in developing countries than in developed countries since, as most scholars claim, democratic principles are all but completely non-existent in the less-developed world. In many less-developed countries tourism has become a priority sector in public policy owing to its considerable economic impact. This leads Jenkins (1980, p. 27) to argue that tourism in developed countries THE JOURNAL OF TOURISM STUDIES Vol. 14, No. 2, DEC. ‘03 9
can be regarded as a mainly social activity with economic consequences; in developing countries it is largely an economic activity with social consequences. As third world governments have placed paramount importance on tourism in public policy, alienation of community members from this sector may mean the alienation of people from economic, socio-cultural and even political life in some areas where tourism has become a major source of income and a dominant social activity. According to Wruth (1992, p. 293), a popular government that does not seek popular input is a prologue to a farce or a tragedy and knowledge will forever govern ignorance: and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. Empowerment is a way of gaining knowledge that may arm a community to challenge outside and elitist interests in tourist destinations. Community members are not only the consumers of public and private goods and services, they are also designers and producers of a product. Thus, as noted in Rose and Hanmer (1975, p. 33) variant democracy is very limited, in that it regards the citizen only as a 'consumer' and not as a 'doer’. In this regard, it is inadequate and unfair to package community values, beliefs and cultures and market them internationally without giving residents opportunities to decide on the scale and form of that product. To do otherwise is undemocratic, albeit commonplace. Thus, assessing the community's regional hopes, aspirations, and values requires reasonably high-quality and diverse public input if the views of those who value public involvement in the planning process as a desirable part of democracy are accepted. (Syme, Macpherson & Seligman, 1991, p. 1780) Moreover, it is the process of political debate that determines appropriate policy in a democracy (Davidoff, 1965). Community involvement in the policy planning process and decisionmaking is an indispensable component of political debate. It is now commonly recognised that there is a growing global trend from centralised to decentralised power, where political control has moved away from central governments to lower order civil divisions (i.e., states, cities, towns and neighbourhoods). This trend has begun giving opportunities to residents to deal with their own problems and concerns (Naisbitt, 1984). It can be argued that the community tourism approach was ushered in by the decentralising trend, which results from real democratisation processes, and community involvement further encourages democratic governance. In this context, Davidoff (1965) argued that if democratic urban governance is encouraged by the planning process, citizen participation must be guided and supported in the planning process. Democratic theories have always considered participatory democracy a societal value, which advocates extensive direct participation in decision-making by as many members of the system as possible. It has long been accepted that selfdetermination by ordinary citizens and other stakeholders permits them to reach rational and effective decision-making and fulfil their potentials (Fong, 1986). If community participation is accepted as a tourism development strategy, local people may articulate and realise their own interests and promote 10 THE JOURNAL OF TOURISM STUDIES Vol. 14, No. 2, DEC. ‘03 the stability and efficacy of social institutions in the tourist destination. In less-developed countries, although the poorest groups are in the majority, they are the least influential and seldom able to express their views. Their powerlessness is often conveniently interpreted as passivity and indifference, but the real problem is lack of opportunity for their direct involvement (Midgley, 1986a). Also, state development programs tend to favour elite groups. If tourism is a crosscultural and international socioeconomic activity, and one of the biggest industries in the world, destination communities should be given opportunities to determine the scale and types of tourism development they wish to pursue. Rapid mass tourism growth threatens traditional people’s simple way of life by accelerating the process of modernisation and social change, something with which they may not be able to cope. By organising local people and making them aware of their situation, community participation provides a mechanism for the mobilisation of the masses and a collective means of redress (Midgley, 1986b; Timothy, 2000). In the context of tourism, it is accepted that the public’s right to participate in the planning activities that affect their daily life is now a widely accepted principle throughout the democratic world. (Simmons, 1994, p. 99) The tourism development process should lead to the participation of various groups from social classes that represent the diverse interests of the destination community. This would not only discourage undemocratic, top-down decision making, but also provide opportunities for communities to use their own
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Tosun Timothy

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