Critical Success Factors Framework for Community-Based Tourism Development

Royal Roads University

Ray Freeman

May 2011 (Adapted)

Synopsis

Tourism is developing a critical mass of momentum which may provide significant benefits to

communities, if developed and managed effectively. Globalization provides ample opportunity

for communities to leverage tourism, however; community planners need to be cognizant of the

Critical Success Factors (CSF’s) necessary to ensure the execution of a sustainable tourism

development strategy. This model provides the basis to explore the critical success factors

necessary to build community capacity through the identification, creation and management of

salient tourism infrastructure, supporting services and amenities, legislative policies and

frameworks, and collaborating clustered stakeholders.

The development of a Framework for Community-Based Tourism Development is utilized to

guide community planners to more effectively execute a sustainable community tourism

development strategy (see: Figure 12). Following a review of the secondary literature, a Delphi

study, querying expert informants produced data utilizing a mixed qualitative/quantitative

research phase to have respondents: 1) identify critical success factors, and; 2) more specifically,

identify which resources may be selected as most critical. While consensus may typically be a

desirable outcome of the Delphi research method, awareness of unique perspectives may

facilitate innovative approaches to problem-solving. Analyzing outlier approaches may assist

community tourism planners to appraise a broader range of potential factors (beyond consensus)

which may be valuable for consideration, dependent upon specific community environmental

factors, including: local politics, policy and legislative variances, latent or salient stakeholder

influence, or other locally significant influences.

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In order to translate the key findings of this research into a tangible planning framework, the

researcher has applied the data collection results to the Conceptual Framework utilizing the

Critical Success Factors derived in conjunction with a Community Development Assessment

Framework. The researcher believes this approach may be effectively replicated in other regions

with more mature tourism development clusters and strategies. Lesser developed regions or

emerging clusters may need to focus on the more basic elements tourism development until they

are able to build a sufficient critical mass of momentum to have all of the critical success factors

identified in this study come into play. The Conceptual Framework may be beneficial to

emerging clusters intent on mapping-out long term objectives, while maturing clusters may use

the framework as a planning bridge towards achieving planning and operational efficacy.

Utilization of the Framework for Community-Based Tourism Development may assist

communities and stakeholders to more effectively execute a successful planning strategy while

assisting future researchers to delve further into analysis of the role of Critical Success Factors

and the Conceptual Framework.

The benefits to those communities which get the mix and application of factors correct may

include: increased opportunities for tourism activities for diverse participant populations,

increased destination awareness and tourism visitation, increased tourism revenues, increased

taxation revenues, development and improvements of community infrastructure, spin-off benefits

to indirect community players, diversity of economic base, support for community youth

recreation and community social development, programming opportunities for school districts

and special populations, promotion of cluster and networking development, creation of

community social capital, nurturing of innovation, knowledge transfer, improved

competitiveness, promotion of local cultural, historical, ethnic, and geographic characteristics.

Figure 12. Framework for Community-Based Tourism Development (Adapted from Freeman,

R. 2011, see below):

Framework for Community-Based Tourism Development