Local community, volunteering and tourism development: The case of the Blackwood River Valley, Western Australia
Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Routledge
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Business
RAS ID
17049
Abstract
Rural communities, especially those that strive to become tourist destinations face many challenges, including limited human and financial resources in developing their own tourism sector. The importance of local visitor centres in promoting the region can be invaluable assets in addressing those limitations. However, to what extent can efforts among a community's residents also contribute towards the promotion of local tourism? The present study investigates this aspect of community involvement from the perspective of representatives (managers, staff) of an emerging rural tourism destination, the Blackwood River Valley in Western Australia. Semi-structured, face- to-face interviews were conducted in four visitor centres. Volunteerism among local residents in various ways of tourism promotion emerged as a key finding in this study, as well as volunteer work providing support beyond involvement at visitor centres. Indeed, this aspect of community involvement was further illustrated in other forms of community involvement (e.g. helping host and cater for events). The findings, therefore, reinforce the notion that through volunteerism, local residents make direct and indirect participatory contributions that help strengthen the social aspect, or social fabric, of the community, while contributing to tourism development.
DOI
10.1080/13683500.2011.644770
Comments
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Current Issues in Tourism on 13 January 2013 as: Duarte Alonso, A. , & Liu, Y. (2013). Local community, volunteering and tourism development: The case of the Blackwood River Valley, Western Australia. Current Issues in Tourism, 16(1), 47-62. Available online here