Community-based tourism as social entrepreneurship promoting sustainable development in coastal communities: a study in Thua Thien Hue province, Central Vietnam

Community-based tourism (CBT) has been considered a popular approach to sustainable development, especially in rural areas of developing countries. However, the different trajectories of the CBT approach and mixed empirical evidence have led to a vague understanding of the impacts of CBT on sustainability. This study employs a social entrepreneurship perspective to explore CBT practices and their relationship with sustainable development in coastal communities in Thua Thien Hue, Central Vietnam. A survey collected data on 297 households in nine villages along the provincial coast. As a collective entrepreneurial initiative, tourism appears to have reconfigured the natural and sociocultural capitals of the coastal communities. CBT had different impacts on social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Although CBT brought considerable improvements to the landscape, environment, and natural resources, it caused unexpected impacts on culture preservation. Meanwhile, CBT did not provide many local household income enhancement or job creation opportunities. The study has implications for managers and policy maker to develop CBT in developing countries.