Community Based Tourism Tourism Community-based tourism is a type of sustainable tourism where residents invite travelers to visit or stay in their communities with the intent to provide an authentic experience of the local culture and traditions. These communities are often rural, economically struggling, or living below the poverty line, and community-based tourism (CBT) gives them the opportunity to take full ownership of their area’s individualized tourist industry as entrepreneurs, managers, service providers, and employees. Most importantly, it ensures that the economic benefits go directly towards local families and stay within the community. Community-based tourism helps the community by; 1.Generate Income 2.Preserve Culture 3.Conserving Environment 4.Providing Educational Opportunities Thus becoming a poverty reduction tool The principles listed below present the concept of CBT, and the way the host community can use tourism as a tool for community development. CBT should: 1. Recognize, support and promote community ownership of tourism; 2. Involve community members from the start in every aspect; 3. Promote community pride; 4. Improve the quality of life; 5. Ensure environmental sustainability; 6. Preserve the unique character and culture of the local area; 7. Foster cross-cultural learning; 8. Respect cultural differences and human dignity; 9. Distribute benefits fairly among community members; 10. Contribute a fixed percentage of income to community projects; 1. They are led and owned by the community. This means that local people play a leading role in the enterprise and the assets belong to the community. The resources can therefore not be sold off for private financial gains. This also means that their boards are accountable to the communities, mainly because the directors are representatives of the communities; 2. They are self-sustaining and able to generate profits to be reinvested and/or distributed among the community. Their financial stability arises from their business practice. Even if they receive support from a third party at the beginning, they can sustain themselves after a while; 3. They are sustainable which means that they equally tackle environmental and social problems in their area. They are also called social enterprises as they can generate many jobs in the community. They can also return benefits to the community beyond creating direct employment for individuals. For instance, they can offer scholarships or subsidized health care. 4. Have some cultural heritage. The main selling point of CBT is that it allows visitors to immerse themselves in unique cultural experiences of the hosts
