CQUniversity
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Assessing ecotourism in an Indigenous community: using, testing and proving the wheel of empowerment framework as a measurement tool

journal contribution
posted on 2018-06-07, 00:00 authored by A Mendoza-Ramos, Bruce PrideauxBruce Prideaux
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Many of the issues confronting Indigenous peoples result from disempowered communities. Conversely, where communities are empowered, usually as a consequence of landownership, they are able to actively participate in, and benefit from, economic activities such as tourism. In this study, a framework titled the wheel of empowerment framework is used to demonstrate how the level of empowerment/disempowerment in five dimensions can be measured. The dimensions tested are economic, psychological, social, political and environmental. Indicators to measure the level of empowerment for each dimension were developed in a three-stage research process commencing with semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, followed by focus groups with community members from Coba, a Mayan village located near Cancun in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Appropriate indicators were identified and used to assess community levels of empowerment. Results show that the ability of communities to develop sustainable ecotourism businesses requires support from external stakeholders including governments and the private sector as well as internal stakeholders including the local community and importantly from community leaders. The results also show that empowered communities are able to derive considerable social and economic benefits from ecotourism business ventures and make a positive contribution to the ongoing maintenance of sustainability of their local environment.

Funding

Other

History

Volume

26

Issue

2

Start Page

277

End Page

291

Number of Pages

15

eISSN

1747-7646

ISSN

0966-9582

Publisher

Routledge, UK

Peer Reviewed

  • Yes

Open Access

  • No

Acceptance Date

2017-06-09

External Author Affiliations

Colectividad Razonatura AC, Sustainable Tourism, Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Author Research Institute

  • Centre for Tourism and Regional Opportunities

Era Eligible

  • Yes

Journal

Journal of Sustainable Tourism

Usage metrics

    CQUniversity

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC