Liberating sustainability indicators: developing and implementing a community-operated tourism sustainability indicator system in Boga Lake, Bangladesh

Abstract

In cases of donor-funded community-based tourism (CBT) initiatives, sustainability indicators are often developed and used by donors or NGOs for progress reporting purposes, and the voice of the local community is often ignored. In cases where bottom-up participatory approaches have been employed, local communities may be involved in the process of indicator development as participants but are usually not given the opportunity to operate the indicator system independently. This study describes a methodological procedure for developing and implementing a local community-operated grassroots level CBT sustainability indicator system in Boga Lake, Bangladesh. The sixteen-step methodological process to formulate CBT sustainability indicators involved in-depth interviews, workshops, working group meetings, and an empirical examination of the indicator system in practice. The local community were able to form a community research team, develop survey questionnaires and observation checklists, collect and analyse data, and write a report. The community believed that their research-based sustainability reports could serve as strong evidence to negotiate with local authorities and other stakeholders, while also helping them learn and adapt their tourism-related initiatives. Further, there is evidence the community considered it as a matter of pride to operate their own indicator system.

Keywords:

• Sustainable tourism indicators
• community-based tourism
• bottom-up approach
• indigenous community participation
• participatory process
• Bangladesh

Acknowledgement

The authors greatly acknowledge the local indigenous Bawm people of Boga Lake who facilitated to implement the framework empirically and also special thanks to Mr. Lal Pian Sangla (a young student and community member), for his immense support (hosting and tour guiding) during the fieldwork.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Md Saiful Islam is a PhD candidate in the Department of Tourism, University of Otago, New Zealand. His PhD research focuses on developing a sustainability indicator system for an indigenous community that the community can operate independently in the context of community-based tourism. Before starting PhD, he did his Bachelor and Master studies in Tourism at University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, where he gained experience of conducting research in tourism settings in Bangladesh. Besides, he worked in consultancy projects for different international development and conservation organizations including IUCN, ILO and ICIMOD – all in tourism and development sectors in rural Bangladesh.

Brent Lovelock is a Professor and the Head of the Department of Tourism, University of Otago. He is also the Co-Director of the Centre for Recreation Research, at the University of Otago. His background is in natural resource management and protected area tourism and recreation. Brent’s main research interest has been the application of sustainable tourism – in its broadest sense – environmentally, socially and politically. He has undertaken research in North America, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region, examining collaborative planning processes for sustainable tourism development. His interest in nature-based tourism and recreation has seen him undertake a range of consultancy work for various natural resource management and organisations and nature-based tourism providers, including the Department of Conservation and Fish and Game New Zealand.

Dr Willem J. L. Coetzee is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Tourism, University of Otago. His research focuses on sustainable tourism, events and festivals. In this context, he has explored specific issues among stakeholders in and around protected areas in Southern Africa, the impacts of nature-based tourism on surrounding communities, and the impacts of tourism in water-stressed destinations. His recent publications revolve around perceptions and consumer behaviours of attendees at sporting events and festivals. Willem has been involved in a range of tourism supply-and-demand projects in small towns and the formulation of tourism feasibility studies for communities.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by funds from the University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship.