| Abstract: |
Community based tourism is tourism in which local residents (often rural, poor
and economically marginalized) invite tourists to visit their communities with
the provision of overnight accommodation. The residents earn income as land
managers, entrepreneurs, service and produce providers, and employees. At
least part of the tourist income is set aside for projects which provide
benefits to the community as a whole. When we come to ‘Community
participation’ it refers to a form of voluntary action in which individuals
take up the responsibilities of citizenship. Community participation is an
educational and empowering process. People cooperate with those able to assist
them, and identify problems and needs for mutual concerns. The term
‘community’ or ‘host community’, in the context of tourism, refers to a group
of people living in the same locality, or tourism destination. In the
Northeast Region (NER) of India in general and Manipur in particular the
concept of community participation in tourism development is not widely
prevalent and is in infancy stage. In this backdrop the paper adopt a
hypothesis that Community based tourism is a factor for maximizing the
socio-economic benefit of the community and growth of tourism industry in the
state. It also looks into the aspect of how different communities in Manipur
can participate in tourism development. Key words: Community participation,
Community based tourism, host community |