Community-based tourism, at its best, is a community deciding what visitors see, running it themselves and keeping the money. At its worst it is the same visit with the same photographs and none of the ownership, marketed with the same vocabulary. Telling the two apart takes about four questions, and they are questions any honest operator will answer.
The short version
- Ask who owns it, who decided, who is paid and who can say no.
- Real community tourism has a community that can cancel it.
- Be suspicious of the word authentic and of a performance scheduled to a coach timetable.
- Orphanage visits are not tourism. Do not include them.
- Ask before photographing. The visit is not consent.
What You Need to Know
The four questions
- Who owns it? Is the enterprise owned by the community, by an individual from it, or by an outside operator who pays a fee for access?
- Who decided? Was the visit designed by the community, including what is shown and what is not, or presented to them as an arrangement?
- Who is paid, and how much? Wages and a share, or a per-head payment that reaches one intermediary?
- Who can say no? A community that cannot decline a visit, close for a funeral or stop the arrangement entirely is not a host.
An operator who answers those four plainly is usually doing it well. An operator who answers with adjectives is usually not.
What good looks like
Visits with a scale the place can carry, at a frequency the community set. Real work continuing rather than being suspended for an audience. Someone from the community leading and explaining, in their own framing. A visible way for the money to reach the community, and often a stated purpose for it. And the freedom for the visit not to happen today.
What to avoid
Visits to orphanages and children’s homes should not be part of a tourist itinerary at all: the presence of a stream of strangers is harmful to children regardless of the visitors’ intentions, and demand for such visits has been shown to distort the institutions themselves. Reputable operators removed these years ago; an itinerary that still includes one is telling you something.
Also avoid staged poverty as an attraction, performances of ceremony that has been shortened for a schedule, and anything where the people being visited have no evident say. The reliable signal is whether the visit could be declined.
The heritage dimension
UNESCO’s 2003 Convention on intangible cultural heritage treats practices, expressions, knowledge and skills, and the objects and spaces that go with them, as heritage in their own right, recognized as such by the communities who hold them. The useful idea for a traveler is in that last clause: the community defines what it is and what it means. A visitor is a guest of a living practice, not an audience for a display.
What to Do Before Your Trip
- Ask your operator the four questions, and listen to how they answer.
- Check whether any orphanage or children’s home visit is on the itinerary, and remove it.
- Find out who leads each community visit and where they are from.
- Ask what the money pays for.
- Agree the photography rule before you arrive.
Building a group itinerary? Group size is the variable that most often turns a good community visit into a bad one. Ask the community what number works and hold to it.
Explore group travel planningImportant Considerations
Scale is usually the problem rather than intent. A visit that works for six people can be intolerable at thirty, and the difference is not something the visitors experience. Ask what number the community actually wants and split a large group rather than negotiating the limit.
Give money through the agreed channel rather than to individuals in the moment. Handing cash or gifts to particular people, and especially to children, sets up dynamics inside a community that a visitor is in no position to judge and will not be there to live with. Where a community has a fund, use it.
And accept the possibility that the answer is no. A community that does not want visitors, or does not want them this week, is exercising exactly the control that makes the whole arrangement legitimate.
Tips for Group Travelers
- Ask the four questions before booking, not after arriving.
- Split large groups to a number the host set.
- Brief the photography rule beforehand.
- Give through the community fund, not to individuals.
- Let the community’s guide lead. Do not narrate over them.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Taking the word community at face value.
- Including an orphanage visit.
- Arriving with a group too large for the place.
- Handing money or sweets to children.
- Photographing without asking because the visit was arranged.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is community-based tourism?
Tourism owned and run by the community being visited, which decides what is offered and keeps the revenue. The test is not the label but the answers to four questions: who owns it, who designed it, who is paid, and who can say no. A community that cannot decline the visit is not hosting it.
Why should I avoid orphanage visits?
Because a stream of strangers passing through is harmful to children whatever the visitors intend, and because tourist demand for such visits has been shown to distort the institutions themselves. Reputable operators removed them from itineraries years ago, and an itinerary that still offers one is telling you about the operator.
Should I bring gifts?
Not to individuals, and especially not to children. Giving in the moment creates dynamics inside a community that a visitor cannot judge and will not be present to live with. If you want to contribute, ask whether there is a community fund and give through it.
How can I tell a real community enterprise from a staged one?
Ask who owns it and who decided what is shown. Look at whether ordinary work continues or is suspended for the audience, whether someone from the community leads and frames the visit, and whether the visit could be canceled today for a funeral. The freedom to decline is the clearest single signal.
Related Travel Tips
- Culture, customs and responsible travel, the section this guide belongs to.
- Supporting Local Businesses.
- Engaging Respectfully With Local People.
- Photography Etiquette.
Plan Your Trip With LABUSA Travel
The four questions are easier to ask of an operator who has already asked them. LABUSA Travel builds community visits with the communities concerned, at the size they choose.
Talk with a LABUSA Travel advisor about a trip you are considering, or browse our destination guides for a specific country.
Verify Before You Travel
The framing of intangible cultural heritage as defined by the communities that hold it comes from the UNESCO 2003 Convention. Local conditions are published per destination by the U.S. Department of State and independently by the U.K. FCDO.
Travel requirements, health guidance and safety conditions can change. Always confirm current requirements with the appropriate government or official authority before departure.