Responsible Rural Tourism in Asia

Vikneswaran Nair, Amran Hamzah, Ghazali Musa, Dr. Ghazali Musa

• Publisher: Channel View Publications
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781845417512
• eBook ISBN: 9781845417536
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

The rural tourism sector has become a key driver for social and economic growth and a major source of income for developing and low-income countries in many parts of Asia. Rural tourism is progressively viewed as a solution, increasing the economic viability of marginalised areas, stimulating social regeneration and improving the living conditions of rural communities. Responsible rural tourism promotes conservation of the natural environment, protects the authenticity of culture, and offers socioeconomic opportunities and benefits for local communities. This book encompasses case studies from a range of Asian countries and examines both successful and failed attempts in developing responsible rural tourism, and the learnings that we can adopt and adapt for future responsible rural tourism in the region. It will be of interest to students, researchers, stakeholders and policymakers in tourism.

1Conceptualizing Responsible Rural Tourism in Asia

Vikneswaran Nair, Ghazali Musa and Amran Hamzah

Introduction

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism. This was a clear recognition of tourism’s contribution to sustainable development goals and its potential for community development, poverty eradication and the protection of biodiversity. Tourism is an important tool for community development, especially in rural destinations (Nair et al., 2014, 2017).

Tourism growth and the uniqueness of tourism in Asia have been discussed by many scholars in many case studies over the past few decades (Hall & Page, 2017; Singh, 2011; Winter et al., 2008). As described by Hall and Page (2017: blurb):

Asia is regarded as the fastest growing area for international and domestic tourism in the world today and over the next 20 years. Given the economic, social and environmental importance of tourism in the region, there is a need for a comprehensive and readable overview of the critical debates and controversies in tourism in the region and the major factors that are affecting tourism development, both now and in the foreseeable future.

Singh (2011) viewed that the many interfaces of the Asian cultural and natural heritage with tourism, while taking into consideration the realities of the current political and economic realities, make the tourism setting in Asia different and important compared with other parts of the world.

Hence, the rural tourism sector has become a key driver for social and economic growth and a major source of income for developing and low-income countries in significant parts of Asia. Rural tourism is progressively viewed as a solution to increasing the economic viability of marginalized areas, stimulating social regeneration and improving the living conditions of rural communities as discussed in the chapters in this book. Similarly, responsible tourism in essence provides quality travel experience that promotes conservation of the natural environment, protects the authenticity of culture and offers socioeconomic opportunities and benefits for local communities. Thus, responsible rural tourism is certainly the way forward for many developing and low-income economies, especially in Asia.

After almost two decades of bringing rural tourism to the mainstream, what are some of the lessons that can be adapted and adopted from some of the best approaches in Asia? The concept of responsible rural tourism focuses on tourism operations that are managed in a sustainable way, that it can continue to deliver the benefits for years to come for the community. Nonetheless, not all of these destinations have succeeded in developing their responsible rural tourism products. We can also learn from approaches that have not been successful.

According to Lane (1994), rural tourism is the most common form of tourism offered in rural areas and typically has the following characteristics – located in remote areas, small-scale enterprise, wide-open spaces, closely associated with nature, heritage, ‘traditional’ societies and practices. In addition, rural tourism destinations essentially have distinct characteristics – low levels of tourism development, and opportunities for visitors to directly experience the local economy which is mainly agricultural and/or focused on natural environments or non-urban settings (Frochot, 2005; Irshad, 2010). Rural tourism is rural in scale in terms of buildings and settlements, traditional in character, growing slowly and organically, connected with local families and representing the complex pattern of the rural environment, economy, history and location. These characteristics are evident in rural tourism destinations in many parts of Asia. Hence, the understanding of the development of a healthy and sustainable rural tourism destination is essential if Asia wishes to continue to attract and be a regional leader in responsible rural tourism.

The research of Jurowski (2008) has already indicated that the tourism industry’s interest in appearing to be ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ has increased in exponential proportions. Subsequently, the growth of the tourism industry through the years has created an increasing amount of stress economically, socially and environmentally as the carrying capacity or limit of these destinations is not checked or adhered to, as indicated in many studies over the past decade (Dlamini, 2013; Goodland, 1992; Hall, 2004; Sharpley, 2000; Vehbia & Doratlia, 2010).

Nonetheless, the concept of rural tourism has melded with mainstream tourism in many destinations in Asia. As a result, rural tourism as a niche tourism product has lost its distinctness in many parts of the world (United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP], 2010) including in Asia. Mass tourism in rural destinations will result in more long-term negative impact than the positive outcome it is expected to bring. Without careful attention to the balance between the volume and type of rural tourist activity and the sensitivities of the limit of the resources being developed, tourism projects can be not only environmentally harmful but also economically and socioculturally self-destructive (Mbaiwa, 2003). Understanding these complex dimensions that work in Asia, which may be similar or different from other parts of the world, is critical for the global sustainability of rural tourism destinations. Hence, rural tourism in Asia has its own uniqueness that attracts tourism from the Western world to experience the harmony between culture, environment and the micro-economy of the local community.

Conceptualizing Sustainable Tourism and Responsible Tourism

Sustainability is the ability to maintain at a certain rate or level. Sustainability avoids the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance, for example, in the pursuit of global environmental sustainability. As defined in the Brundtland Report (1987) entitled ‘Our Common Future’, sustainable development is, ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Most sustainability definitions embed economic development and social equity as important dimensions. Hence, sustainability is not just environmentalism. The Brundtland Commission successfully unified these three pillars of sustainability in the world’s development agenda. Thus, this holistic approach in finding the right equilibrium is critical for lasting prosperity. In short, achieving sustainability does not mean that the destination’s quality of life will be lost. What sustainability does is just change the mind-set and values towards a less consumptive lifestyle in any destination. This lifestyle is critical to the success of the many rural tourism destinations in Asia. All these changes will result in destinations embracing global interdependence, economic viability, social responsibility and environmental stewardship.

The triple bottom line focuses on the ‘Three-Ps’ of sustainable integration with equitable people (social) and the profit (economy); viable planet (environment) and the profit (economy); and bearable planet (environment) and the people (social). This is outlined in Figure 1.1. Nonetheless, in many destinations in Asia, a fourth ‘P’ has become another important dimension for sustainability – Politics. The political dimension can rock the equilibrium of sustainability. This dimension can include organization and governance, law and justice, communication and critique, representation and negotiation, security and accord, dialogue and reconciliation, and also ethics and accountability. These are all critical to the sustainability of any destination. Other similar concepts such as sustainable tourism, responsible tourism, rural tourism, niche tourism and slow tourism are all offshoots of this sustainability and sustainable development concept.

Figure 1.1 Triple-bottom line

The UNEP and United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (2005: 11–12) defined sustainable tourism as, ‘Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities’. Hence, the concept of sustainable tourism makes optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development while maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity; respects the sociocultural authenticity of host communities; conserves their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values; contributes to intercultural understanding and tolerance; and ensures viable, long-term economic operations by ensuring a fair distribution of socioeconomic benefits to all stakeholders, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation.

Then the following questions appear: ‘If you are sustainable, does that mean that you are responsible? If you are responsible, does that mean that you are sustainable?’ Sustainability is merely the goal. This goal can only be conceived and achieved by people taking responsibility together to achieve it. Thus, responsible tourism which originated from the concept of responsible development is a more operationalizable definition. The modern tourists of today have evolved in terms of their expectations when they visit a destination. As indicated by Nair and Azmi (2008), this new wave of tourists is saying ‘no’ to mass tourism, irresponsible operators and resorts that are destroying the local environment. These tourists want real quality experience. They want to know that the shower they are taking is not depriving a village of water. That the hotel they are staying at is not robbing the locals of their livelihood, or that their very presence is not offending the local communities. This is what responsible tourism is clearly about.

Responsible tourism was defined in Cape Town in 2002 (International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations (ICRTD) (2002) alongside the World Summit on Sustainable Development. According to the definition, responsible tourism is: ‘Tourism that provides quality travel experiences by maximizing the benefits and opportunities to local communities, minimizing negative social or environmental impacts, and helping local communities conserve fragile cultures and habitats or species’. Responsible tourism operations are managed in such a way that they preserve the local environment and culture so that it can continue to deliver the benefits for years to come. In short, ‘responsible tourism is about using tourism to make better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit, in that order’ (Goodwin, n.d.). This philo...

Table of contents

• Cover-Page
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Conceptualizing Responsible Rural Tourism in Asia
• Theme 1: Harmony Between Humans and Nature in Moulding Rural Tourism in Asia
• Theme 2: An Essentially Asian Form of Rural Tourism
• Theme 3: Tourism That Takes Place in Rural Areas
• 14. The Quest for an Essentially Asian Form of Rural Tourism
• Index