The Background Behind the Creation of Sustainable Community Tourism
― Globalism is Causing a Crisis in Many Communities in the World
Due to globalization and the global economy, the world is now closely linked, and for many years now countries have been competing for economic supremacy and enjoying much material prosperity.
On the other hand, there is a widening gap between rural and urban cultures with populations becoming increasingly concentrated in urban areas. Local communities and economies have, in many cases, seen a serious deterioration in their economies and life quality accompanied by the gradual destruction of local traditions and customs essential for long term sustainable existence in rural areas.
In addition, the process traditionally has fostered a lifestyle rooted in geo-political realities and has replaced the psychological sense of security and fulfillment that comes from being a part of a close knit community with instead the anxiety, fear, frustration, and resignation that is characteristic of the mass media portrayed global reality.
On reflection, it can also be said to be a regional and national issue as it becomes an invisible contributor to instability and a threat to global security. Although each region is facing different circumstances due to unique historical, political, and social conditions, we can see there is much in common when it comes to the deterioration of connectedness, loss of meaning and identity in the community. There are two deteriorating worlds that communities are now facing. One is the visible and one is rooted in the invisible.
But, the focus is not as much on ‘Sustainable Tourism’ as it is ‘Sustainable Communities’. In fact, we believe the concept we are proposing has never been tried. ‘Sustainable Community Tourism is not just about traditional tourism in its various forms but is more about creating a form of intercultural interaction with communities struggling to find their identity in a global economy. Until now communities of living human beings have had little choice in how outside influences affect their communities. The result has been a steady deterioration of the subtle invisible connections that give people meaning in their lives.
― Local Communities are Facing a Visible and Invisible Crisis
Due to pressures and influence outside of communities we are seeing a severe deterioration of the critical functions of community life, both visible and invisible.
For the visible we are seeing the effects of globalism impacting upon the economy, the environment, agriculture, commerce, and industry.
However, until now most measures of the globalist impact on community development have not included the invisible causal relationships that inform every sustainable community.
Yet, it is that most important invisible ‘glue’ that enables a community to be defined as a community and not just a collection of buildings with people living in them, isolated and disconnected.
Finding sustainable community is therefore not only about using social and economic indicators to measure the visible effects on housing, farmland, nature, and the environment, and economy. It is also about identifying, understanding, and fostering insight into the invisible bonds that hold communities together and enhancing those factors to create sustainable, vibrant, harmonious, and happy communities.
This is not a Utopian
dream. It is in fact being practiced in countries like Bhutan that
actually measure the happiness of their communities using a National
Gross Happiness indicator. We can learn from such cultures and begin to
measure more than just economic growth which is often connected to the
growth of illness, malaise, alienation, violence, and disintegrated
communities. As GNP goes up so does the cancer rate and the autism rate.
Other measures are needed and other ways of reconnected people to their
communities and place are needed. That is where Sustainable Community
Tourism comes in.
