The components of tourism have been understood with the concept of four A’s. However, in recent years, local communities have emerged as one of the significant components of sustainable tourism development. The image of tourism is based on a community’s assets, and a local community plays a role in preserving their traditional values. Therefore, the community-based tourism approach (CBT), which ensures active participation and enhances the empowerment of a local community, has been considered significantly in tourism development.
In the context of Korea, local theme parks, which put the local values and resources in the centre, have been developed as a part of local tourism initiatives by local governments. In particular, they are receiving significant attention as they provide various experience programmes and recreational facilities based on unique local resources and contribute to revitalising the local economy. Therefore, many works of literature on tourism policies and strategies in Korea have required the active participation of local communities in the decision-making process of local tourism initiatives.
However, it seems to advocate CBT in developing theme parks in Korea, but a gap between the approach and the community is created. The majority of study on these local theme parks has focused on visitors’ and governments’ perspectives, such as facility planning, selective attributes and demand forecasting. Therefore, the participation and the empowerment of local communities in a local theme park development process have not yet been clarified. Also, barriers affecting community participation in local tourism development have not been articulated so far.
Hence, focusing on Gwangmyeong Cave, this study ultimately aims to identify barriers to community participation at the local level. The outcome of this research is expected to develop a conceptual framework to reduce the academic gaps and add knowledge of CBT.
Mots clés : community participation|community-based tourism|barriers|local theme park
A104418DJ