Community-based tourism is a form of sustainable tourism that a local community owns, runs or controls, so residents decide what visitors see and do and keep a fair share of the money. Offers can include homestays, guided walks, crafts and meals led by residents. Tour operators can take part, but only with the community’s permission.
You can meet community-based tourism in a homestay listing, a village cooking day sold inside a tour, or a destination plan that puts residents in charge of a site. It can also be cultural or rural tourism, but those labels alone do not establish community control.
Key points
- Community-based tourism is defined by control and benefit, not by place or theme
- The public definitions differ on who leads, so ask who decides before you sell
- A partner can run five checks first: permission, a written agreement, a money map, residents’ limits and two separate feedback lines
- Permission comes from the community’s own decision body, not from one helpful family
What is community-based tourism?
Community-based tourism is tourism where the people who live in a place decide how visitors come, what they do, and where the money goes. A homestay can be community-based. So can a guided walk or a craft workshop. What makes it so is who holds the decisions.
Three public definitions, one difference: who leads
| Source | How it defines the term |
|---|---|
| Pachamama Alliance | Travel to Indigenous communities that have invited visitors |
| Intrepid Travel | Tourism where communities have full ownership and management |
| ASEAN Community Based Tourism Standard, second edition, January 2022 | Tourism owned and operated by the community, managed or coordinated at community level |
Nearby terms that are easy to mix up
- Sustainable tourism: the wider family; community-based tourism is one form of it, led by the host community.
- Cultural tourism: travel to learn about a place’s heritage, arts and ways of life, whoever runs it.
- Rural tourism: tourism in the countryside, owned by anyone.
- Indigenous tourism: tourism involving Indigenous peoples, which may or may not be community-run.
How community-based tourism works in practice
The partner checklist: five checks before you sell
- Permission from the community’s own body. The ASEAN standard sets criteria for tour operators who bring guests, including that permission to operate comes from the community committee and the community. Our Community-Based Tourism Specialist puts the rule plainly: “Do not assume the community has approved an experience”.
- A written agreement. The Specialist lists what it holds: “A benefit-sharing agreement or memorandum should state roles, net rate, allotment, payment, dispute path and review, subject to local legal approval.”
- A money map. Show where each part of the traveler’s payment goes. The Specialist’s instruction: “Map the value chain from traveller payment to intermediary, transport, host, guide, co-op and local supplier; show fees and payout timing before estimating local retention.”
- Residents’ limits, with a veto. Group size, timing, places and stories that stay private. The Specialist’s method is to “let residents choose the visitor story, activities, timing, group size, access boundaries and veto points.”
- Two separate feedback lines. Residents and guests are heard apart, so one voice does not drown the other. In the Specialist’s words: “Gather resident sentiment and guest feedback separately.”
Mark each check yes, no or unsure. Treat unsure as no, and do not sell the experience until all five read yes.
An illustrative example (not a real business)
A tour operator proposes a village cooking day. The tourism committee records community approval through the community’s agreed decision process.
Residents set the limits: small groups, no market-day visits, no photos inside homes, and the right to cancel a departure.
The written agreement names roles, the net rate per guest, group allotment, payment timing, dispute contacts and a seasonal review, subject to local legal review.
A money map shows the operator’s commission, boat-transfer payment and what reaches the committee, households and guide.
At review, residents’ feedback and guest comments remain separate. The committee and operator agree which changes to make.
Why community-based tourism matters for destinations and tour operators
The ASEAN standard was written for certification in ASEAN states. Outside them, our advice is to read its operator criteria as a reference checklist, not a certificate.
More visitors is not the goal on its own. Our Community-Based Tourism Specialist works to a carrying capacity for sites, guides and community life, and warns that “visitor growth is not automatically success.” Its marketing work uses community-approved claims and image rights. Our advice: hold your own listings and posts to the same rule.
Sell a community experience only after the community has said yes, in writing, on its own terms.
How to get started with community-based tourism
- Find the decision body. Ask who speaks for the community: a committee, a cooperative or a council.
- Ask for permission and record it. Note who agreed, when, and to what.
- Draft the agreement. Fill in the six lines named in check two and have a local legal adviser check it.
- Draw the money map before you set a price. Show fees and payout dates to the community.
- Set two feedback lines and a review date. Agree when you will meet to change the terms.
How we help. The Community-Based Tourism Specialist can build the consent and benefit-sharing checklists behind checks one and two. Community-Based Tourism Development develops a community-led tourism model from local needs through co-creation, governance, marketing and impact measurement.
Apply it with your AI assistant. Copy this into the assistant you already use:
I'm reading this page about community-based tourism: https://traveltech.digital/glossary/community-based-tourism/ Can you help me see how it applies to my work, and what I could do first? Use what you already know about me. If something important is missing, ask me instead of guessing.
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Frequently asked questions
What is community-based tourism?
Community-based tourism is a form of sustainable tourism that a local community owns, runs or controls. Residents decide what visitors see and do, and they keep a fair share of the money. Offers can include homestays, guided walks, crafts and meals led by residents.
Public definitions differ on who leads. Pachamama Alliance describes travel to Indigenous communities that have invited visitors. Intrepid Travel speaks of full community ownership and management. The ASEAN standard says owned and operated by the community, managed or coordinated at community level.
What are the principles of community-based tourism?
The ASEAN Community Based Tourism Standard names a fair and transparent benefit sharing mechanism among its principles. It also sets criteria for tour operators who bring guests, such as permission from the community committee and the community.
This page sorts the working principles into five checks for a partner. They are permission, a written agreement, a money map, residents’ limits with a veto, and separate feedback lines. Each check protects one thing: control, fair pay, or the community’s right to say no.
Why should I choose community-based tourism?
Choose it when you want the people who live in a place to shape your visit and keep a fair share of what you pay. You meet hosts on terms they set, in homes, kitchens and trails they chose to open.
Before you book, ask who runs the experience, who set its limits, and how your payment reaches the hosts.
A clear answer to each is a good sign. A vague one is a reason to ask more, or to choose another experience.
How can destinations better capture and sell community-based tourism?
Destinations International gives destinations four steps: engage the community, “Train and Digitally Onboard”, build domestic awareness, then “Launch International Marketing”. The order matters, because selling comes last.
Our advice is to add the partner checklist before the first sale. Confirm the community’s permission, put the terms in writing, show the money map, respect residents’ limits and keep two feedback lines. Then promote only claims and images the community has approved. A destination that sells first and asks later risks losing the community’s trust.
What is a CBT friendly tour operator?
The question comes from the ASEAN Community Based Tourism Standard, which sets criteria for tour operators who bring guests to a community. One of those criteria is that permission to operate comes from the community committee and the community.
In plain terms, it is an operator that works on the community’s terms. It asks the committee first, signs a written agreement, shows where the money goes, follows residents’ limits and listens to residents apart from guests. The standard was written for certification in ASEAN states.
Sources
- ASEAN Community Based Tourism Standard, second edition, January 2022, checked 2026-10-19.
- Pachamama Alliance, Community-Based Tourism, checked 2026-10-19.
- Intrepid Travel, Community-based tourism, checked 2026-10-19.
- Destinations International, blog post on community-based tourism for emerging and established destinations, checked 2026-10-19.
