Sustainable Community Participation: A Reality Or A Fallacy?

‘Small and medium-sized businesses represent around 80% of the tourism sector and are particularly at risk as millions of people around the world, including [those from] vulnerable communities, depend on tourism’ (UNWTO, 2020b). This study analysed the level of community participation in tourism in the Capricorn District of Limpopo. A positivist paradigm was adopted where quantitative data (descriptive statistics) was obtained through a structured questionnaire. Stratified random sampling, was adopted with a sample size of n=394. The results revealed that community participation is limited, because 62% of the respondents were not aware of the extent of tourism in the Capricorn District Municipality. Yet, community participation is driven by awareness, good management practices, and support from stakeholders, among other factors. Hence, a roadmap for the development and management of tourism in the Capricorn District Municipality area was developed for facilitating community participation in tourism development initiatives. The research limitation is that the research was conducted during lockdown, when many tourism businesses were experiencing great difficulties, with staff (especially part-time, seasonal workers) retrenched or placed on unpaid leave. In conclusion, tourism is a highly resilient sector that depends on the inclusion of several stakeholders and the ability of different countries, provinces, and destinations to respond to and recover from the crisis. Keywords: Sustainable tourism, Responsible tourism, Community participation in Tourism, Community-based tourism