Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
Open Access

Benefits and Challenges of Community-Based Tourism in Surigao, Philippines

Rodora B. Olaivar^* and Ninia I. Calaca ^*Correspondence: Rodora B. Olaivar, College of Business and Technology, University of Saint Paul Surigao, Surigao, Philippines, Email:

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Introduction

The province of Surigao del Norte sets its provincial directions 2024 towards development of local tourism industry ensuring economic benefits in tourism through the formation and strengthening of community-based organizations supporting tourism development (PTDF, 2010-2020). Surigao City streamlines its tourism development in Surigao Del Norte Province focusing on Community-Based Tourism (CBT) and Sustainable Development [1]. In providing livelihood and source of income in rural communities, it has established and developed a CBT in the locality namely Barangays Buenavista, San Isidro, and Silop. All of the mentioned barangays have undergone a series of trainings and workshops to empower their local CBT. Community Guides are trained and established by local tourism office capable of conducting basic guiding to tourists who visit the barangay’s areas of interest. Local Tourism Office with financial backings of private organizations funded infrastructure and facilities to help take-off tourism activities in the respective barangays. Barangay Silop and Barangay Buenavista are covered by City Ordinance regulating the conduct of tour in the area to maintain the ecological balance of the multi-cave system and its surrounding areas. Fees are collected to provide a means of income to the guides, barangays, maintenance of facilities, and environmental conservation [2].

APEC (2010) pointed out in the CBT handbook that all too often, monitoring is rarely carried out making it difficult for the organization to take further actions to improve the quality of the product. It is essential that monitoring does not only measure the successes and gaps regarding monetary value but also include non-monetary gains such as pride in the local community, sense of ownership, increase self-esteem, etc. In most of the CBT case studies presented the non-monetary gains are valued more than the financial benefits by the local community.

Framework

This study is anchored on Surigao City Tourism development policy and guidelines, which state that its tourism development must be rooted in the following basic policies: First, Tourism development should be Community- Based. Community-Base Tourism development is a shared responsibility by all the people involved shouting a common battle cry, expressing common aspirations, values, and vision towards reaching a common goal. Second, its Community-Based tourism development should anchor on sustainability that is founded on development dimensions namely: Economic, Social, Environmental and good governance [3]. Economic dimension aims at eradicating poverty, promoting entrepreneurship, and providing opportunities for micro and small-scale enterprise. Social Dimension aims at promoting access to education and other basic services, promotion of just and human society. Socio-cultural dimension as culture is always linked with society responsible governance as part of the benefits of sociocultural dimension. Environmental Dimension aims to protect the natural resources while expanding production to meet the needs of growing populations (Surigao City Tourism Master Plan 2014-2024). Most of the literature and studies used the common dimensions which are: economic, socio-cultural, and environmental dimension in monitoring the benefits and challenges of CBT.

The framework of the study is presented in the schematic diagram in Figure1. The first box on the left contains the basic information of the respondents regarding age, sex, and years of residency and the program profile of CBT. The second box contains the assessment of the benefits and opportunities of community-based tourism program regarding economic, socio-cultural, environment aspects, and issues and challenges facing CBT in Surigao City. APEC (2010) cited that in assessing the benefits of CBT, it must take consideration of the community holistically to include the socio-cultural, economic, ecological aspects of the community. The third Box contains the proposed recommendation for improvement of the CBT program (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the study.

Materials and Methods

Research design

This study used a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The descriptive survey method was employed. The design is deemed appropriate because it investigates and describes a current concern on the benefits and challenges by community based tourism. The qualitative method was utilized to gather information on the challenges of the CBT Barangays [4].

Participants

The participants of this study were the local residents of the three community based tourism barangays in Surigao City, namely Barangay Silop, Barangay Buenavista, and Barangay San Isidro [5]. These participants were those who have been residing for at least 8 years in the barangay and at least 23 years of age at the time of the conduct of this study. Eight years is necessary as their minimum years of residence as the CBT in Surigao City started its inception in 2011. In terms of age requirement, which is 23, the formalization as to imposition of fees happened during the enactment of City Ordinance 373 Series 2014. The participants, with right age and length of years residing in the barangays, were able to observe the gradual improvements and changes in terms of economic, socio-cultural, and environmental dimension. Furthermore, they neither hold elected nor appointed public position in the CBT barangays. Barangay positions are inclusive to Barangay Captain, Sangguniang Barangay, appointed Barangay Treasure and Secretary.

The researcher used the purposive-quota sampling technique in determining the sample participants. The three mentioned barangays do not have data as to the total number of population aged 23 years old and above, initially the researcher came-up with a 50 participants per barangay. After the data gathering, there were some filled-up surveys of participants which were invalidated as they did not meet the specified criteria.

Instrument

This study made use of a researcher-made questionnaire that was subjected to validation by tourism industry experts. Improvements on the questionnaires were done based on the results of the validation. The first part of the questionnaire is on the profile of the participants in terms of age, sex, and year of residency in the locale. The second part of the questionnaire, the participants assessed the benefits they get from their respective local CBT. The last part of the questionnaire asked the participants to share the challenges, issues, or problems confronting their local CBT [6].

Data gathering procedure

The researcher served a formal letter addressed to the Dean of the Graduate School asking permission to conduct the study including the interviews to be done outside the campus. A letter was sent to the three (3) CBT Barangays asking permission to conduct an assessment on their corresponding CBT and to the City Tourism Office for interviews and profile of the CBT program [7]. Upon the approval of the request, the researcher selected the participants through convenient sampling technique and secures an appointment to conduct a survey using the questionnaires validated by the experts.

Data analysis

All the data gathered were tabulated, and analyzed by a statistician and treated using the following statistical tools. Simple percentage, Mean and Standard Deviation were tool to treat data in assessing the benefits of community-based tourism programs in their respective locales. The qualitative description of each weighted mean is based on the parametric scale [8].

Results and Discussion

The mean ratings provided by the participants as to the extent the benefits of Community -Based Tourism (CBT) to local residents in terms of Economic dimension. As observed from the table, the CBT programs are rated with an average mean of 3.22. This means that the participants agree that they received more economic benefit. The results of this study corroborated the study of Goodwin and Santillini, affirming the true intent of CBT which is to deliver a wider community benefits. These benefits resulted to livelihood, provided and created more income, and generated entrepreneurial opportunities for local communities from different backgrounds, skills, and experiences. Participants of the three barangays have the same lowest response on develop and innovate products or services with mean ratings of 3.13, 3.04, and 2.70 respectively opined that product innovation is hindered by several factors: shortages of financial capital to further develop new ideas, lack of ideas for new products springs from, lack of knowledge and implement new ideas, or lack of technical equipment or technological solution to support developing ideas Table 1,2.

Table 1: Distribution of participants.

Table 2: Benefits of community based tourism in terms of economic dimension.

The Table 3 presents the socio-cultural benefits of Community -Based Tourism(CBT) to Local Community of three Barangays.The CBT programs were rated with an average of 3.21. This means that participants of the three barangays agree on the more benefits received in the CBT program. The participants of the three barangays have the same lowest mean response on development and creation of local crafts. As any successful CBT programs, it should feature local handicrafts further cited that craft making yield numerous benefits to artisan. It does not only provide economic gains and leisure-based activity. It also improves wellbeing, an enhanced sense of self and self-efficacy. Thus, leading to social empowerment (Table 3).

Table 3: Benefits of CBT in terms of socio-cultural dimension.

The Table 4 displays the benefits of Community Based Tourism to Local Community of three Barangays in terms of Environmental Dimension. As observed from the table presented, participants of the CBT barangays obtained an overall mean of 3.35, verbally interpreted as strongly agree and qualitatively described as having received Most Benefits in respective CBT programs (Table 4).

Table 4: Benefits of CBT in terms of environmental dimension.

As shown in Table 5 the results reveal that all CBT Barangays obtained an overall average mean of 3.26, verbally interpreted as strongly agree and qualitatively described as Most Benefits. This means that CBT Barangays mostly benefited from their respective CBTs. The benefit as to environment has the highest average mean rating of 3.35 as the three barangays strongly agree on receiving most benefits they received on CBT in terms of environment, and agree on having more benefits on Economic (M=3.22) and Sociocultural (M=3.21) dimensions. The results Tourism Development Master Plan of Surigao City (2014-2024) emphasized that the development of CBT should anchor on sustainable development which spurs Economic, Socio-cultural and Environmental benefits on the locals (Table 5).

Table 5: Summary of the benefits of CBT to the local community in surigao city.

As shown in Table 6 presents the summary responses on challenges faced by the barangays. A total of ten challenges are cited by the three barangays. Some of these challenges affect the two dimensions. Lack of livelihood programs and improper garbage disposal are two common challenges raised in two barangays- Silop and Buenavista. During the conduct of survey to the communities, participants said there are no opportunities provided to the local community that could have been resorted to as other livelihood programs for the community (Table 6).

Table 6: Summary of the challenges encountered in CBT in surigao city and the proposed improvement to the barangays.

To date, no organizations have provided them entrepreneurial skills trainings and finances for start-up of business. Improper disposal of garbage mostly done by the visitors in the areas. One of the mentioned challenges which has becomes a setback for tourism development in the said barangay is on the absence of unity among barangay officials or collaboration/ support among elected barangay officials who come from different political parties. The concern on coming from different political parties has resulted to unrealized tourism projects and programs initiated in the barangay.

This hinders the success of the CBT. Another challenge is on the issue of some spelunkers or cavers who enters the cave without prior registration in the barangay. This resulted also to lost income due to non-payment of entrance and guide fees. While the standard procedure for spelunking activity is to always register in the barangay, the idea of safeguarding and safety of the spelunkers are compromised. Part of the registration is assistance of an experienced and trained cave guide, and the provision of caving gears to ensure safety during the conduct of the spelunking activity.

Moreover, there is the challenge of no local handicrafts or souvenir that are available for sale in Buenavista to respond to the need of the most of the island visitors who ask what and where they could buy souvenirs in the island. Meanwhile, participants in Barangay Silop cited several challenges such as lack of livelihood, improper garbage disposal, no sufficient funds for tourism development, lack of full implementation in the conservation polices or guidelines.

Developing tourism to achieve economic benefits, socio-cultural awareness, and environmental conservation is a wonderful concept for CBT holistic development. However, opined that the level of success varies depending on many factors known as challenges of CBT development and these challenges must be identified prior to undertaking the development of tourism operation.

Out of the challenges provided by the participants gathered through the open-ended questions on the survey questionnaire, possible actions were identified to improve the CBT in the respective locality. The proposed actions for improvements to locals or CBT implementers of Barangay Buenavista and Silop as to common problem in terms of lack of livelihood is through strategically create partnership with other government agencies such as Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) or other government agencies, and NGOs and academes to provide them free trainings and workshop on livelihood, and other business skills to help locals venture on small or micro enterprises or family entrepreneurship such as providing homestay programs and activities, food, drinks and other services to tourists. Providing livelihood activities is also one way of diversifying tourism product and services and thus spreading wider benefits to community and sustaining its CBT.

Local CBT in Surigao may partner with local universities who have the knowledge, expertise, and the tools to help them develop or improve their CBT tourism products or offerings. Universities may adopt a CBT community as part of their community extension service through providing trainings, seminars, and workshops to make them self-sustaining CBT. APEC cited that developing partnership with the academes will educate the local community on the appropriate framework to develop community based projects and equip the organization with the tools and approaches to improve the quality of the tourist experience. Universities will also bring with them research expertise to analyze changing tourist demand and trainers to conduct capacity building programs. Benchmark other CBT projects or livelihood and develop the best practices in own CBT locality through study trips to further expose the local communities on the realities of CBT and at the same time have a good grasp of the livelihood activities and tourism innovations. It is also a good platform for networking, sharing of experiences and exchanging of ideas specifically on experience of service skills, marketing strategies, interpretation and communication requirements as well as management skills.

As to improper garbage disposal, Buenavista and Silop partnered with schools to let students develop waste management related activities or projects. It does not only benefit the community but also the students’ involvement will provide actual learnings on real life situations. In terms of lack of unity among barangay officials in Buenavista this is addressed by suggesting to the Local Government to select CBT leaders that have earned the respect of the locals and considered as local champions, regardless of whether they are elected government officials or appointed CBT officials. Likewise, lack of unity may be disintegrated through conduct of Tourism Awareness Program by way of seminars on the relevance of good governance on the success of community based tourism. As to challenges in souvenir development in Buenavista, souvenir and handcrafts selling are ways wherein CBT can further expand its income generation and provide more livelihood benefits for locals. Tapping government agencies, industry, and academes that can specifically provide trainings and workshop on handicrafts and souvenir making is recommended and consider sourcing local materials that are readily available on the area. Local CBT must create or assigned areas as display centers for local handicrafts. Local economic diversity is also important for the sustainability of CBT projects. Training and graduating local community on the craft production, organization of cultural events and souvenir selling are suggested to diversify economic participation in tourism. As to issues raised by participants in San Isidro regarding lack of livelihood accorded to women, a proposed improvement is to create or organize a women association in the local CBT. This women association should be encouraged to pursue entrepreneurship or livelihood activities. As to Silop challenges on lack of funding, there are government institutions, private sectors, NGOs that will provide necessary funding for tourism development Government institutions, the private sector, or Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) may provide start-up funding. More substantial financial assistance along with technical assistance can be acquired from major international organizations (Table 7).

Table 7: Proposed recommendations based on the findings of the study.

The areas that are given recommendations and proposed actions or activities to improve their CBT program are based on the lowest response common on the three barangays and lowest average mean to all CBT barangays. As can be gleaned from the table, areas which has lowest response are some of the identified challenges that are being raised by the participants of the CBT Barangays and discussed comprehensively on the previous page. Actions or activities are recommended on the findings of the study.

Conclusion

Overall, the local communities of CBT Barangays are highly benefited on three dimensions: economic, socio-cultural and environmental. They received most benefits on the environmental aspects but agree on the moderate benefits in terms of economic and socio-cultural dimensions of the CBT. All the barangays felt moderate benefits on development and creation of local crafts and in the development or innovation of products or services.Though it shows positive response, the results can be indicative of the need for improvement on the area of entrepreneurship or product innovations to fully maximize the contributions of CBT. Issue as to lack of livelihood accorded to local community is identified in the three barangays. No local handicrafts or souvenirs are developed in the barangay and lack of funding for tourism development are some of the deficient economic activities. Improper garbage disposal and needs improvement of the conservation measure are common problems in the CBT Barangays. Development of linkages and partnership among the stakeholders in the CBT is a top priority for consideration. The following recommendations are directed to the stakeholders of the Community -Based Tourism, as each of them has a responsibility to create a holistic CBT based on the triple bottom line of sustainable development.

For local government unit of Surigao city

Tap Department of Tourism attached agencies such as Tourism Investment and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) to encourage investors to invest in the CBT and build infrastructure to facilitate travel in the CBT Barangays, Tourism Promotion Board (TPB) to assist barangays in marketing its CBTs to both local and foreign tourists. Conduct training and development that provides hands-on essential business skills such as in areas in tourism product development and innovations, marketing, livelihood and entrepreneurial related skills. Trainings and workshops that allows them to become self- sustaining and not reliant with external funding’s. Create a CBT regional, province wide or local group to promote CBT destinations in Surigao City. Organize study trips or benchmarking on Best Practices of other CBT areas in the Philippines or in Asia. Encourage the law-making bodies in Surigao to formalize guidelines on conduct of tourism activities in marine sanctuaries in the CBT through the creation of an ordinance.

For non-government organizations

The various tourism professional and business organizations may adopt a CBT barangays as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. They will come-up with a program or activities to train locals with skills necessary in the CBT operations. Partner with CBT Barangays and develop CBT programs, activities or projects that jump start tourism development in the barangays through initial funding or providing low interest loans. Provide support or services through training or workshops on livelihood, small or micro entrepreneurship, and capacity building. Adopt a CBT and support its environmental management conservation by providing expertise or funding.

For academe

Examine further this study specifically on needs to be addressed, and such will be used as basis for developing community extension program for the College of Business and Technology Department or SPUS in general. Among the three barangays focus on one barangay to be adopted by the school.

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