Community-based tourism homestays ? capacity to advance the Sustainable Development Goals: A holistic sustainable livelihood perspective

Community-based tourism is an approach to tourism presumed to achieve progress on SDG1 No Poverty and SDG11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. In rural communities, homestays are a critical CBT component given tourists need lodging and the capacity to involve many village families. As a result, h h homestays appear to make a positive contribution to lifting whole families out of poverty while retaining decision-making within the community. However, it is not clear what the true capacity is of homestays? to advance these SDGs when examining them from a holistic sustainable livelihood perspective. This research adopts the Sustainable Livelihood Framework to critically examine both livelihood benefits and costs of operating a homestay. Taking a case study approach, semi-structured interviews, observation notes and secondary sources were combined to study homestay operators in a CBT destination in Laos. Findings highlight that operating homestays offers significant capacity to advance SDG1 and 11, however, extensive costs requiring collective planning and management were also uncovered.

Automated summary

Community-based tourism is a significant approach to achieving the goals of reducing poverty and building sustainable cities and communities. Homestays, as a critical component, can help families lift themselves out of poverty, but they also require collective planning and management.