The global tourism industry is well served by the historical identities, artistic practices, ecological knowledge and cultural traditions of indigenous communities. Yet these are not always treated as such under conventional models of tourism development; more often they have been cast as a cultural attraction for the visitor, which restricts the indigenous population from being an economic actor in their own right and puts their heritage at risk. An alternative is found in indigenous tourism entrepreneurship, where communities can put in place their own enterprises to further economic empowerment and sustainable development without sacrificing cultural preservation. In this paper we look at how community ownership, institutional support, digital participation and authenticity bear on the sustainability of tourism outcomes.
Our mixed-methods research is designed to analyse the interplay between tourism development and indigenous entrepreneurship. The quantitative side of the study draws on a survey of 850 respondents from among sustainable development professionals, tourism practitioners, community members and indigenous tourism entrepreneurs. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with 60 representatives of the community and other experts active in the field for the qualitative component. Thematic analysis of the latter will reveal the governance, cultural and economic factors at work, while the former is subjected to confirmatory factor analysis, hierarchical regression and reliability testing.
An Indigenous Tourism Entrepreneurship Empowerment Framework (ITEF) is put forward by the study to bring together the elements of cultural ownership, entrepreneurial capacity, community governance and access to the digital market. Our results show that enterprises run by indigenous people are of considerable value in terms of empowering the community and diversifying the economy. That said, long term sustainability is hampered by a number of obstacles: external commercial pressures, infrastructure shortfalls and a paucity of financial resources or market access.
In showing the case for community-controlled tourism, this work adds to the literature on indigenous entrepreneurship and sustainable tourism. For the policymaker, the tourism organisation or the community itself, the framework offers some direction in putting together responsible initiatives that do not compromise on cultural integrity or the environment in the name of economic growth.