Empowering rural communities: a theoretical approach to sustainable tourism through community-based development

Sustainable tourism is an important element in the policies of many developingcountries today. In contrast to mass tourism, it provides a holistic perspective,recognising the synergies between economic, social, and environmentaldevelopment and protecting the existing natural, human and organisationalresources upon which tourism depends. Community-based tourism (CBT)is a participatory approach to implementing sustainable tourism that alsopromotes community development from a bottom-up perspective and witha focus on local knowledge and existing resources. Based on comprehensiveresearch and analysis of the existing body of literature, the aim of this paperis to research the transition from sustainable tourism towards communitybased-tourism, to identify the relevant actors that should be involved in theplanning, implementation and management of such projects and to proposea capacity development approach that facilitates community developmentthrough a community-based tourism approach.

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1. Section "Architecture and Urban Planning"

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2. Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa nr POPUL/SP/0154/2024/02 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki II" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki (2025).