Assessing the sustainability of community-based tourism: a case study in rural areas of Hoi An, Vietnam

Community-based tourism (CBT) has become a popular segment of sustainable tourism development worldwide to provide community welfare and empowerment. CBT has been pushed as one of the strategies for poverty alleviation, particularly in marginalized regions and communities. Thus, tourism has also experienced negative impacts creating a developmental conflict. This study proposes an integrated methodological approach that provides solutions for assessing tourism sustainability and advancing CBT development approaches and operations towards sustainability in rural communities in Hoi An, a heritage destination in Vietnam. The assessment is a combination of resident interviews, the fuzzy AHP approach, and the sustainability value of the Barometer of Sustainability. Retrieved from literature review, surveys and expert judgments, twenty-one indicators were selected to assess and evaluate the level of economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and management sustainability at a local scale. The final sustainability index reveals that CBT in Hoi An has overall potential sustainability. Economy, identified as the most critical criterion, ranked third in the sustainability level, while Culture-Society exceeded the potential sustainability score. Critical factors are community development policies, capacity building, full community participation and support, and environmental sustainability. The study contributes to the fragmented knowledge of assessing CBT sustainability and concludes that this is a reliable and feasible approach suggesting critical implications for sustainable development. It will appeal to policymakers, planners, and practitioners seeking more effective tools for planning and developing CBT.