Building community resilience through community based tourism in northern Thailand: the importance of social capital

Abstract

Tourism has an omnipresence of application as a development tool, especially in rural areas within lesser developed countries. However, tourism development, particularly alternative forms of tourism such as Community Based Tourism (CBT) have and continue to face a multitude of barriers. As communities globally are facing greater uncertainties and stressors to local systems, it is imperative to build resilient communities. Thus, community resilience should not be taken as an end-goal, yet an iterative process for such to absorb, adapt and ultimately transform in the face of and after change. This research aims to offer a unique insight into how these concepts can not only explain the conditions of how Mae Kampong were able to transform and enhance resilience through CBT, but how the feedback of developing CBT has reinforced (positive and negative) nodes of social capital amongst the community. Based on an exploratory case-study approach of Mae Kampong in Northern Thailand, analysis was conducted utilizing data source triangulation, whereby a thorough contextual analysis of the community’s development of CBT was derived from semi-structured interviews with experts, local resident’s, external stakeholders (n=18) and complemented by desktop literary review. Interviews were conducted remotely via multichannel and telecommunication means, performed by the author and the aid of a research assistant, with analysis utilizing deductive and inductive thematic analysis. This research brings social capital and its domains to the fore of CBT development. Hence, the coupling of social capital with resilience thinking in the context of CBT forms as valuable lens and vehicle, addressing an overlooked research gap. Thus, the findings suggest the starting point of sustainable tourism development, including CBT, must first look at the local social assets, attributes and capabilities, forming the precursor to the effective implementation of CBT as a development tool that ultimately has the ability to enhance community resilience. Mae Kampong can then be considered a model CBT community, unlike what has been presented in the past.