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Abstract
The paper reports a study from Southern Thailand where white water rafting (WWR) has produced significant community development benefits to Ban Songpraek Village; yet the future is challenging. This study investigates the origins, growth and management of the WWR enterprises and the perceived impacts of tourism on the village. Using qualitative and quantitative methods the results show a complex situation as tourism benefits accrued to the village and the residents' response to these benefits creates dependency. The village is a rear example of partial empowerment of the indigenous community yet to achieve sustainability; the study suggests that villages need to be further empowered to determine the preferred level of tourism growth in the village. To achieve this, the integration of WWR tourism with other resource-based activities and the regulation of the tourism activities is required.