The Mekong tourism dilemma : converging forces, contesting values

One of the major difficulties in implementing a community-based approach to tourism planning is the political nature of the planning process (Hall 2000). The complex and satisfied nature of many communities has been recognised in studies concerned with local participation in tourism planning in developed countries, but there is still a need to theorise the nature of power, conflict, development and political agency in the context of tourism planning in less developed countries and to consider whether or not there are any similarities and differences. Western scholars generally assume that the community will have a high degree of participation and control over decision-making processes in a community-based planning approach (e.g. Haywood 1998, Arnstein 1969). However, the level of participation may be in the form of toenism or manipulation, in which decisions or, just as importantly, the directions of decisions, have already been prescribed by government (Hall 2000) or international agencies.