The effectiveness of local empowerment agents in community based tourism

Abstract

Understanding of local empowerment concept is essential to explain the development of the Community-Based Tourism particularly from the perspective of the local community. Therefore, it is important to distinguish the local empowerment in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the methods or approaches introduced by local empowerment agents. Empowerment is a process which involves the transfer of power to something of interest to them. It is also used to understand how the community acquired the power / responsibility from the tourism development in their area. This study was designed to evaluate the methods or approaches introduced by the local empowerment agents in Community-based tourism specifically the homestay program. The evaluation of local empowerment is carried out based on two different approaches ranging from government agencies and NGOs. Actor-Network Theory approach is also used as a basic reference in understanding the roles and responsibilities of agencies involved in the development of the homestay program. A qualitative approach was chosen as a research strategy that will be a strong basis in acquiring more detailed information. Analyses of four main indicators were used in determining the effectiveness of the approaches introduced by two local empowerment agents’ based on two different homestays. Thematic analysis was used in interpreting the data in the form of keywords and storytelling. This analysis was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the approaches introduced by the local empowerment agents based on four main indicators comprises of economic, social, psychological and political based on two different case studies. The local empowerment that had been practiced was subsequently tested. The result shows that both approaches introduced by local empowerment agent have its own strengths and benefits. The implications of this study are further detailed for the purpose of developing the homestay program in future.