Inhibitors to host community participation in sustainable tourism development in developing countries

Abstract

The involvement of host communities (or destination residents), particularly in developing countries, is critical to the success of tourism development and to the creation of a “Just Destination”. This paper investigates host community perceptions about obstacles to their participation in tourism development in Lombok, Indonesia, providing new insights into institutional influences on tourism opportunities and issues. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques targeted separate groups of destination residents who live in a developed tourism destination, a less developed tourism destination, a remote rural village far away from tourism destinations, as well as a group of university students. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, qualitative questionnaires and observation, and were analysed using content analysis. Results show three main institutional factors inhibit host community participation in tourism: tourism agencies, private sector providers and tourism infrastructure, and perceptions of the negative impacts of tourism. The underperformance of state tourism agencies and private sector providers resulted in a lack of tourism infrastructure and limitations on host community opportunities to participate in tourism development and businesses. The findings suggest the need for improvement in the training of state tourism agency employees, better coordination among government agencies, and improved education and training for tourism operators.

发展中国家可持续发展过程中对于东道社区参与的抑制

东道地区社区（目的地居民）的参与对于旅游发展和“只是目的地”旅游景区的创建起着至关重要的作用，特别是在发展中国家。这篇文章通过研究在印度尼西亚龙目岛地区社区居民的参与阻碍来研究目的地居民的旅游参与，提出了制度对于旅游机遇和问题影响的新视野。本文用滚雪球抽样调查法针对居住在高度发展的旅游目的地居民的几个独立小组进行了调查。这几个小组包括：一个欠发达的旅游目的地、一个离旅游目的地较远的村庄和一群学生。通过深入访谈法、问卷调查法和观察法收集了数据，并用内容分析法进行分析。结果显示三种主要制度因素阻止了旅游目的地居民的参与：旅行社、旅游设施的私营供给者和旅游参与者的消极影响。旅行社和私营提供者的表现不佳导致了旅游设施的欠缺，也限制了旅游目的地居民对于参与旅游发展与经营。结果显示了对于强化训练的旅行者员工、更协作的政府机关和旅游提供者教育及培训水平改善的需求。

Keywords:

• host community participation
• tourism agencies
• Lombok
• private sector provider

关键词:

• 旅游目的地参与
• 旅行社
• 龙目岛
• 私营旅游提供者

Acknowledgements

We thank the Centre for Sport, Tourism, and Service Innovation (TSSI) of Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Australia for its financial support to attend an international conference during the writing process of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Akhmad Saufi

Mr Akhmad Saufi is a PhD student in the Department of Tourism, Sport, and Hotel Management at Griffith University, South Port, Australia. He works as a lecturer in the Faculty of Economics at Mataram University, Lombok, Indonesia. He has a special interest in host community development in tourism, tourism entrepreneurship, sustainable tourism, and eco-tourism.

Danny O'Brien

Dr Danny O’Brien is an associate professor of Sport Management in the School of Health Sciences at Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. His research interests are in sustainable surf tourism, community-based sport tourism, and event management.

Hugh Wilkins

Hugh Wilkins is professor and head of school for the School of Business at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia. His research interests are in tourism and hospitality marketing and management with a special interest in consumer behaviour.