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Paradoxes in community-based tourism initiatives: insights from two case studies in central Vietnam

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Abstract

Calling for local participation in community-based tourism (CBT) initiatives with the aim of increasing income and preserving cultural values faces certain paradoxes that can cause implicit risks to the locals themselves. This study attempted to shed light on these paradoxes by understanding the business collaboration between the host community and travel agencies through two case studies in central Vietnam. Data were obtained through empirical surveys conducted in 2018. The data were then analyzed by applying the three-stage framework of the CBT development process. These results highlight two implicit paradoxes that lead to dilemmatic scenarios during CBT development. First, the results heavily emphasize the role of the private sector in supporting tourism growth, yet excessive control leads to elite capture, wage gaps, unfair competition, and issues of non-authenticity. Second, tourism companies seek to transform the community’s resources into unique tourism values; unfortunately, these values do not include villagers’ trust, norms, and identity. Ultimately, this causes villagers to react negatively to these enterprises. Although examples of backlash unintentionally harmed tourism success, collective action and the persistence of traditional norms enabled host communities to maintain their value of honesty, customs, and beliefs against being too dependent on outside groups. Recognizing these issues, this study proposes tourism-related policy implications to avoid such situations, mitigate risks, and maximize the benefits for local community groups.

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Fig. 1

(Source: modified from Butler (2006a) and Kujala et al. (2016))

Fig. 2

(Source: DoT 2020)

Fig. 3

(Source: modified from Tan et al. 2019)

Fig. 4

(Source: author’s fieldwork 2018)

Fig. 5

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Data availability

Available on reasonable request.

Notes

  1. The “doimoi” reform policy is a set of open-door policies that marked the beginning of “a market economy with a socialist orientation” in Vietnam.

  2. $1–23,000VnD.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT), and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for their scholarship to support this work. We would also like to express our gratitude to the People’s Committee of Hongha Commune, the People’s Committee of Thuybieu Commune, and all respondents who provided valuable information for this research. We greatly appreciate Mr. Ho Viet Luong, Mr. Amoong Ty, and Mrs. Le Thi Bich Van for their support during the survey. Finally, we would like to thank Editage (www.editage.com) for the English language editing.

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT). This work was partially supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (15H05125).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushima Campus, Okayama, 700-8530, Japan

    Nguyen Quang Tan & Fumikazu Ubukata

  2. Faculty of Economics and Development Studies, University of Economics, Hue University, Hue City, 49000, Vietnam

    Nguyen Cong Dinh

Authors
  1. Nguyen Quang Tan
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  2. Fumikazu Ubukata
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  3. Nguyen Cong Dinh
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Nguyen Quang Tan. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Nguyen Quang Tan and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Nguyen Quang Tan.

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Conflict of interest

On behalf of all the authors, the corresponding author hereby states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

I hereby state that the manuscript has followed the regulations of Okayama University and has completed the course on research ethics offered by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. This is the original work of the authors and has not been previously published elsewhere. Interviews with local respondents were conducted with their permission, following related guidelines. All authors take public responsibility for the content.

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Tan, N.Q., Ubukata, F. & Cong Dinh, N. Paradoxes in community-based tourism initiatives: insights from two case studies in central Vietnam. SN Soc Sci 2, 71 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-022-00370-3

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