The community participation process in ecotourism development: a case study of the community of Sogoog, Bayan-Ulgii, Mongolia

Abstract

Theories on community participation in ecotourism development advocate obtaining maximum levels of both community control and benefit to achieve sustainable tourism. This paper explores issues in community-based ecotourism development in a small, remote community in western Mongolia. It assesses the community's desire to develop ecotourism, their understanding of the issues involved and the feasibility of the process in a poor herding community, where 63% are herdsmen, frequently absent with their herds. Using responses from 100 participants together with interviews with key stakeholders, it describes and analyzes the difficulties in establishing community participation and ecotourism implementation. Findings revealed that long-term viable community-based ecotourism development in remote areas requires close collaboration and sustained support from trusted community leaders and from knowledgeable and committed outside stakeholders. Approaches need to be carefully tailored to local circumstances, not “one size fits all”. Key areas of concern were environmental and cultural, including fears that their tradition of hospitality might be compromised, perceptions of the local NGO's benefits to the community and local, often naïve, expectations of ecotourism development. Despite fears, over 90% of those interviewed were willing to participate in an ecotourism project in this high-risk, unforgiving economic and climatic setting.

生态旅游发展中的社区参与过程: 蒙古Bayan-Ulgii的Sogoog社区为例

关于生态旅游的社区参与的相关理论证明, 要达到可持续发展的旅游, 就需要将社区管理和社区收益同时达到最高程度。该文章以蒙古西部一个较小并偏远的社区为例, 探讨社区为本的生态旅游发展中的一些问题。该文章主要研究了社区居民的发展生态旅游的欲望, 他们对一些问题的理解, 并且调查了生态旅游在当地贫困的游牧民族中发展的实践性, 特别是当当地居民63%都是牧民经常因放牧而到处游走。通过100份对当地社区中的主要参与者的面访调查, 该研究描述并分析了建立社区参与和生态旅游实施的困难性。结论表示, 要在偏远地区达到长期可持续性的社区为本的生态旅游发展, 就必须需要值得信任的社区领导和知识经验丰富的外来参与者共同合作和支持。规划者需要根据当地具体情况小心地采取措施, 而不可以用同一个方法在不同的社区里。当然, 该研究也指出了一些担心, 像是环境和文化方面, 包括担心当地居民传统好客的民风会改变, 还有当地居民对非政府机构在生态旅游发展中能给他们带来好处的问题上有过分天真的期望。尽管有各种担心, 在采访人群中, 虽然在这个高风险, 经济环境不稳定的情况下, 多过90%的人表示愿意参加生态旅游的项目。

Keywords:

• remote communities
• community-based ecotourism
• cooperation
• western Mongolia
• participatory process
• community participation

Keywords:

• 偏远社区
• 社区为本的生态旅游
• 社区参与
• 蒙古西部
• 参与过程
• 合作

Acknowledgments

Sebastien Nault is a permanent sessional Lecturer at the Laurentian University School of Human Kinetics, in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. His current interest is in promoting sustainable tourism in remote locations.

Paul Stapleton is an Associate Professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

Notes

1. Ministry of Road, Transport and Tourism of Mongolia, now the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism.

2. Information about the increase in the number of tour operators since 2002 was gathered from interviews with tour operators.

3. B. Khabden, Head of Industry, Infrasctructure and Nature, Policy Coordination Division, Governor Administration Office of Bayan-Ulgii aimag, interview, 12 March 2009.

4. Kazakh Family Development does not have a website of its own, but the following sites give background information: http://www.piedterre.org/index.php?action=content&module=

mview&m_id=2&lang=eng and http://www.fiatcharities.org/FIAT/CDEngine.aspx?loc=0,17.

5. Sandrine Tissier, Director of Pied sur Terre NGO, interview, 10 March 2009.

6. Tourism in Mongolia was discussed in an interview at the Ministry of Road, Transport and Tourism of Mongolia (now the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism) in Ulaanbaatar on 1 September 2008 (Lutaa Enkhnasan, Deputy Director, Tourism Department).