Synthesis Article

Abstract

Community participation is crucial to sustainable development. This Special Issue consists of six articles focused on the various approaches involving the local community in sustainable heritage tourism. In the first article, a conceptual model of community participation influencing sustainable development was provided in the context of Asian heritage tourism. Most studies on local community participation in sustainable development were conducted in Western countries and may not reflect the practice in Asia where the government has a primary role. Nguyen, et al. synthesized various findings on local community participation and proposed an overarching research framework that reflects the contextual characteristics of Asian sustainable development. With a strong governmental intervention, the study focused on the level and characteristics of community participation as a direct consequence of such intervention. The articles that followed illustrate the role of the government and community participation in sustainable development, particularly in heritage tourism in the ASEAN countries, specifically Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.