Examining Roles of Tour Dure Producers for Social Capital and Innovativeness in Community-Based Tourism

The Dure community is a traditional meeting and collaborative effort for solving tasks and issues in rural farming villages in Korea. Recently, the South Korean government has tried to revitalize Dure communities to develop tourism businesses in local provinces. Tour Dure projects aimed at revitalizing local communities and promoting sustainable economic development have been operating since 2013. Tour Dure producers, as change agents, play a critical role in the Tour Dure projects. The purpose of this study is to reveal the producers’ roles in realizing community-based tourism (CBT). Using partial least squares structural equation modeling, this study analyzes the relationship between the producers’ role and social capital in local communities and the subsequent impact on residents’ innovativeness and life satisfaction. The results show that the producer’s role is important in creating social capital, improving innovativeness, and, as a result, residents’ life satisfaction. The present study suggests further implications for academics and policy makers focused on sustainable CBT.