7 tips to develop community-based tourism
1. Connect with the local community
To local community is the element key of your experience. connect with them, build trust and think about tourism together. What is unique about their culture and what are they willing to share? Make sure to collaborate an and give them a voice.
2. Train locals in tourism
Interacting with travelers from a different culture can be a challenge for local communities and it’s important for local communities how to communicate with local communities . think about how and which information to share and to make them feel welcome.
3. Create indepedency
Local communities want to improve their livelihood and build their own future. To success rate of the tourism experience depends on the communities sense of ownership. Let them take care of their own tourism products and enjoy the benefits.
4. Include interactive elements
Travelers are looking for experiences where they can participate instead of only watching and visiting. Engage them in the local culture, have them do, try and taste things and give them a truly unique experience.
5. Think about the language
Travelers are looking for experiences with interaction. Therefore, language is an important aspect for community-based tourism. How are your travelers going to communicate with the host? The best solution will be to have an English-speaking guide who is able to communicate with both the host as travelers in an enthusiastic manner.
6. Decide on the duration
Most travelers will step out of their own comfort zone when doing a community-based tourism experience. Therefore, it’s important that your experiences are not too long and uncomfortable for the traveler. When you start with CBT, focus on (half) day experiences first. This way, travelers can ease into it and they are also easier to develop.
7. Ensure safety
As travelers are entering an unknown area, they will trust upon the guide to keep them safe. It’s important that the guide is trained in emergency situations and also knows how to explain safety issues to the travelers. Thereby, hygiene and sanitation of the local community is also very important. Especially for experiences with food and in times of COVDID-19.
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