COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM: NAVIGATING GLOBAL CRISES AND SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

Community-Based Tourism (CBT) has emerged as a critical paradigm for sustainable tourism development throughout the first quarter of the 21st century, conceived as a response to the negative impacts and inequities of mass tourism. This article systematically reviews CBT’s evolution, challenges, and transformative pathways from 2001-2025, addressing critical gaps in comprehensive, epoch-specific analysis and interdisciplinary integration across various stakeholders. Utilizing a systematic documentary research approach, it synthesizes insights across economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and governance dimensions, with a particular focus on case studies from Southeast Asia. The pre-COVID-19 period (2001-2019) witnessed significant growth, underscoring CBT’s potential for multi-dimensional community benefits in economic empowerment and cultural preservation, yet also revealed persistent challenges such as overtourism, unequal benefit distribution, and capacity deficits. The COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021) caused unprecedented disruption, exposing industry fragilities but simultaneously catalyzing rapid adaptation through digital innovation and a crucial shift towards community resilience. The subsequent post-COVID era (2022-2025) is characterized by uneven recovery, sustained demand for authentic local experiences, and the accelerating integration of regenerative tourism, digital tools, and ESG principles into CBT frameworks. Ultimately, future success hinges on genuinely empowering local communities, ensuring equitable resource and benefit sharing, fostering robust governance, and strategically leveraging responsible technology to build a resilient, truly sustainable CBT ecosystem that benefits both hosts and visitors.

Keywords: Community-Based Tourism, 21^st Century Tourism, COVID-19 Pandemic, Regenerative Tourism, Community Empowerment