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Bringing Community Tourism to Life: How Planeterra And The DERTOUR Foundation Are Showing That Community Tourism Is Not Just For Niche Travellers
What happens when you move beyond creating individual community tourism experiences and start integrating them into the wider tourism system?
Since August 2025, Planeterra and the DERTOUR Foundation have been exploring this question in practice, working together to integrate community tourism enterprises across Greece, Spain, and Thailand into DERTOUR’s product offerings.
The partnership demonstrates that community tourism does not need to be limited to niche travellers or alternative tourism. When communities are supported and tourism companies are willing to adapt their approach, community tourism can become part of mainstream travel, including destinations traditionally associated with mass tourism.
The DERTOUR Foundation supported this work through funding, while also helping connect Planeterra with DERTOUR Group teams and Destination Management Companies (DMCs) to explore how community tourism experiences could be integrated into existing travel offerings.
The work has reinforced a key lesson: community tourism does not scale simply by creating more experiences. It grows when communities have the support, partnerships, business skills and access to tourism markets needed to participate meaningfully in travel over the long term.
Building community tourism is not just about developing a great experience. It requires aligning community priorities with tourism operations, strengthening business capacity, understanding market expectations, and creating the right conditions for sustainable growth.
Moving Community Tourism from Experiences to a Sustainable Tourism Model
For many community tourism enterprises, reaching travellers requires more than a compelling story or unique experience. Communities need access to the tools, training, operational knowledge, and market pathways that allow them to successfully engage with tourism.
Through this partnership, Planeterra and the DERTOUR Foundation worked together to create a structured approach that supports community tourism enterprises at different stages of readiness. This included:
- Identifying and assessing potential community tourism enterprises
- Supporting communities through training and capacity building
- Strengthening experiences and operational systems
- Aligning community tourism offerings with DERTOUR’s product development processes
- Helping communities understand what is needed to work with tourism operators and welcome more travellers.
A key focus was ensuring community tourism was not treated as a separate alternative, but as a meaningful part of how travel is designed and delivered.
Bringing Community Tourism Experiences to Market Across Thailand, Greece, and Spain
The partnership supported five community tourism enterprises across three destinations. While each destination had different needs, the work revealed that market readiness is not a fixed point, it is a process.
In Thailand, the focus was on connecting existing Planeterra-supported community tourism enterprises with DERTOUR’s supply chain.
The two selected communities, Laem Sak Community Tourism in Krabi and Khao Thep Pitak Community Restaurant in Surat Thani, already had strong foundations. The work focused on aligning operational details, strengthening communication between stakeholders, and ensuring the experiences were ready for travellers.
Laem Sak Community Tourism (Krabi, Thailand)
Laem Sak demonstrates how tourism can support the celebration of local cultural and environmental action. The coastal community offers village walks, local food experiences, and upcycling activities that connect visitors with the stories, traditions, and sustainability initiatives of the community.
Khao Thep Pitak Community Restaurant (Surat Thani, Thailand)
Khao Thep Pitak shows how tourism can transform a missed opportunity into shared prosperity. Once a scenic stop where visitors rarely engaged with local residents, the community has developed an ecotourism model that includes homestays, local meals, guided activities, and a community fund that reinvests tourism income locally.
The key lesson from Thailand was that even established experiences require careful integration. Contracting, logistics, pricing, guide coordination, and storytelling all need to align before an experience can successfully enter a tourism supply chain.
In Greece, the focus was on supporting community tourism enterprises that required further development before market integration.
In Crete, Planeterra worked with the Women’s Cooperative of Kritsa and the Carob Mill Arts and Cultural Centre (Epimenides) to strengthen experiences, operational capacity, and readiness.
Women’s Cooperative of Kritsa (Crete, Greece)
The Women’s Cooperative of Kritsa, founded in 2009 and led by women, preserves Crete’s culinary traditions through cooking classes, tastings, and shared meals. By transforming traditional food knowledge into visitor experiences, the cooperative creates income opportunities while strengthening women’s leadership and protecting cultural heritage.
Epimenides Cultural Society of Panormo (Crete, Greece)
The Epimenides Cultural Society of Panormos has revitalized the historic Carob Mill as a cultural space while promoting the importance of the carob tree as both a heritage resource and a symbol of sustainability. Through collaboration with local producers and researchers, the organization is helping preserve traditional knowledge while supporting environmental resilience.
The experience in Greece highlighted that community tourism development must be flexible and responsive to local realities. Progress depends on coordination between communities, destination partners, sustainability teams, and tourism operators, and these relationships take time to build.
ASOQUEGRAN – La Jaira de Ana (Gran Canarias, Spain)
In Spain, the partnership supported ASOQUEGRAN – La Jaira de Ana, a family-run farm experience connected to a network of artisanal cheesemakers preserving traditional cheese production.
The experience invites travellers into local agricultural traditions through activities such as cheese-making, goat milking, and food tastings. Beyond the visitor experience, the initiative supports rural livelihoods, protects native breeds, and promotes sustainable food systems.
The project also demonstrated the importance of adaptability. Community tourism development does not always follow a straight path, and flexibility is essential when timelines, partnerships, or local conditions change.
Learn more about our work in Spain here
Building Community Tourism Requires More Than Individual Experiences
The first year of implementation highlighted that making tourism more responsible requires collaboration across the entire travel supply chain: communities, tourism operators, destination partners and organizations supporting local development. Here are several lessons that apply across destinations:
1.Market readiness must be built, not assumed
A community tourism experience becomes market-ready through a combination of strong community foundations, operational support, training, and market alignment. This requires:
- Understanding local realities
- Identifying development needs early
- Building confidence and capacity
- Creating realistic pathways into tourism systems
2.Long-term partnerships make transformation possible
Integrating community tourism into mainstream travel requires collaboration between organizations with different roles, timelines, and expertise.
The DERTOUR Foundation partnership created the space for this collaboration by bringing together community development expertise, tourism operations, destination knowledge, and access to the wider tourism market.
This kind of partnership is essential because sustainable integration cannot happen through short-term interventions alone. It requires time, ongoing alignment, trust-building, and shared commitment.
3.Community tourism grows through ecosystems, not individual projects
While five experiences are moving toward integration into DERTOUR’s offerings, the partnership is also strengthening the broader community tourism ecosystem.
An additional 11 Community Tourism Enterprises in Spain and Greece have been onboarded into the Planeterra Community Tourism Network, gaining access to:
- Training and learning opportunities
- Technical support and coaching
- Peer exchange with global community tourism organizations
- Future funding opportunities through the Global Community Tourism Fund
This approach recognizes that communities are at different stages of development. Some are ready to welcome travellers today, while others are building the skills, confidence and connections needed for the future.
Looking Ahead
The work with the DERTOUR Foundation demonstrates that community tourism integration is not simply about adding new experiences to itineraries. It is about changing how tourism connects with communities and ensuring that more of the benefits of travel reach local people.
When community development, product design, commercial alignment, and long-term support come together, tourism can become a stronger tool for local economic opportunity, cultural preservation, and environmental stewardship.
What started as a partnership to bring community tourism experiences to market is becoming an example of how mainstream tourism can evolve to create more meaningful benefits for communities.
How Collective Beekeeping Practices are Reviving Ecosystems and Rural Livelihoods in India
Written by Deeksha Sharma
“Bees are nature’s best pollinators. Protecting them means protecting our biodiversity.”
~ Vandana Shiva, Indian Environmental Activist
In many rural landscapes, bees are treated as tools of production to increase honey output. But in fragile mountain ecosystems, that approach can do more harm than good. Industrial agriculture, chemical inputs, monocultures and rising temperatures have placed pollinators under strain. In response, some communities are rethinking what beekeeping should look like.
In Badsar village in Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh, India, the Tenacious Bee Collective (TBC) is working with farmers and women’s groups to rebuild beekeeping as a local, place-based practice. Their model is small in scale, grounded in ecological balance, community-led and worth learning about.
Why Beekeeping Needs to be Relearned
Over the past few decades, agriculture in many regions has shifted toward monocultures and high-yield systems. Large fields planted with a single crop reduce the diversity of flowering plants that bees depend on. Chemical pesticides further weaken bee populations and climate variability adds another layer of stress, disrupting flowering cycles and shortening foraging windows.
TBC approaches this issue differently. Instead of focusing on volume, it prioritizes ecological balance. The collective supports native bee species adapted to the Himalayan climate. It encourages low-intervention methods that allow bees to follow natural cycles.
Mentioned below are the values TBC sticks with every day:
- Natural, unadulterated bespoke products: TBC produces pure, raw hive-based products with no added preservatives, preserving the authentic taste of the Himalayas.
- Bee-centric: Every activity is guided by the health of bees, placing ethical care at the heart of reviving bee populations in rural Himachal.
- Environment first, profit later: TBC prioritizes sustainable living and ethical production, placing the environment before profit.
- Community-oriented: The collective brings together beekeepers, farmers and local makers, creating rural employment through training and workshops.
- Inclusive: They believe in an inclusive community where everyone can participate in protecting bees and sustaining the land.
In 2023, Tenacious Bee Collective was selected as a recipient of the Planeterra Community Tourism Fund. The support has been instrumental in strengthening their community-led beekeeping model, enabling them to expand ethical practices and continue their regenerative work in rural Himachal Pradesh.
They also received recognition for their ‘Apidome’, an apitherapy wooden structure (bee hive house) used for therapeutic, relaxing sessions that utilize hive air, vibration and warmth for health benefits.
“The Planeterra Community Tourism Fund from Planeterra has helped us carry forward our work with greater confidence and structure,” says Aditya Singh, Experience and Operations Manager at Tenacious Bee. “It has allowed us to continue building an ethical, community-driven model of beekeeping. For us, it’s not just financial support – it’s encouragement to keep strengthening regenerative practices on the ground.”
At its core, TBC’s initiatives are bee-centric. Every activity, from hive management to product development, is assessed through the lens of bee health.
How Collective Beekeeping Works at Tenacious Bee
In Badsar, beekeeping is closely linked with small-scale farming. Over the past several years, Tenacious Bee has developed a circular model in Badsar village. Small-scale farmers are trained in proven scientific practices of ethical beekeeping while drawing from local knowledge systems. Traditional hive forms, including the “dhalooni” built into house walls, are being documented and revived in collaboration with local apiarists.
Instead of concentrating hundreds of hives in one location, apiaries remain small and dispersed. This reduces competition for forage and aligns hive numbers with the landscape’s capacity. Alongside hive maintenance, TBC cultivates local herbs and flowering plants that nourish bees across seasons. A leased plot in the village serves as a demonstration space where bee flora is grown, and knowledge exchange takes place.
Local community members, especially women, help develop value-added products such as beeswax candles and small-batch apothecary items. Through these activities, beekeeping forms a significant part of a broader ecosystem of production and creativity.
From Biodiversity to Livelihoods
Tenacious Bee is building a knowledge base around distinct Himalayan honey types in collaboration with herbal scientists and apiary institutions. Slow production is central to this model.
Honey is harvested in small batches, and beeswax is hand-processed. This approach avoids high capital investment and heavy mechanization, thereby reducing financial risk. It also preserves authenticity in a market often dominated by blended or highly processed honey.
Women in Badsar village have gained new employment pathways through these activities. Training workshops and participation in hive management and product development generate additional income streams. With so much love and light in them, these women fill anyone’s day with warmth and inspiration.
“I love coming here every day,” says Sheena, who works at TBC. “It doesn’t feel like work. I get to spend time with my closest friends, we share our stories, and we build something meaningful together. Tenacious Bee feels like a happy place to us.”
Sheena’s words are echoed by her other colleagues in the collective, who see their work not just as employment, but as a space of friendship and belonging.
A Model that Lets Communities Lead
For organizations involved in community tourism, the key question is how to engage with local communities responsibly. The beekeeping model in Badsar offers a great pathway. At TBC, visitors learn about ethical beekeeping, native species and the role of pollinators in mountain ecosystems. Here, engagement takes the form of educational sessions, attending workshops, product purchases or hive adoption linked to larger orders.
Tourism is not the primary driver of the initiative, but it adds a layer of support. Many travellers stop by, visit the workshop and tour around the organic farm. Decisions about scale and storytelling remain with local stakeholders. This reduces the risk of turning livelihood practices into commercial experiences.
Tenacious Bee’s mission is to create a self-sustaining blueprint for economic, social and environmental development around bees. Its work demonstrates that conservation does not need to be separated from livelihood creation. When communities are equipped with skills, supported by fair markets and trusted to guide their own processes, both ecosystems and incomes can stabilize.
In the Himalayas, where pollinators face mounting pressures, Tenacious Bee’s approach offers a practical way forward. It begins with bees, but it extends to soil health, food security, local enterprise and knowledge revival. Hence, if bees live well, we’ll live well.
About the author:
Deeksha Sharma is a travel enthusiast, a passionate writer and a storyteller who loves sharing local stories about conscious travel, communities and culture. She’s a senior storyteller and editorial co-lead at Postcard Travel Club, a global media company fostering a community of conscious travellers. She was also recently nominated for the Regenerative Travel Impact Awards – Storyteller of the Year 2024 by Regenerative Travel.
With her new book launched at the New Delhi World Book Fair in 2025 by the National Book Trust of India (Ministry of Education), Deeksha is helping shape the narrative around tourism’s role in cultural preservation and sustainable development. In her award-winning blog, Story Happens (earlier known as YouInVerse – youinverse.org) – she aims to bring underrepresented voices and traditions to mainstream audiences. In addition, she loves to practice mindfulness, read and write poems, go for long walks, especially in the evenings and enjoy sunsets.
Barauli and Beyond: How Community Tourism Empowers Women and Transforms Destinations
Written by Aayusha Prasain – CEO, Community Homestay Network
When travel is done with care, keeping people, places, and purpose at its center, it becomes more meaningful. Over the past few years, I have had the chance to see this meaning come alive through my work with the Community Homestay Network (CHN) in Nepal.
This experience has strengthened my belief that when community tourism is practiced as it is truly meant to be, it must be rooted in the leadership and everyday experiences of local people. At CHN, we have seen how community tourism can create real change: opening doors for women to run their own businesses, encouraging learning across generations, and providing new opportunities for young people.
After almost ten years in this space with some tangible impacts on ground, we are looking more closely at how community tourism can shape whole destinations.
What started as a small homestay initiative under Royal Mountain Travel’s CSR project gradually expanded and, in 2017, was established as a separate entity, the Community Homestay Network. Now our work brings together 50 different communities across Nepal.
Throughout this process, families are being inspired to take part, new demand for immersive experiences is developing, and an ecosystem is forming where culture, economy, and environment are growing together. Of course, tourism is complex, and sustaining it takes strong support systems.
From the early days, Planeterra was one of CHN’s key partners and supporters. They supported our communities with training, initial funding, and connections that gradually brought travelers to diverse parts of Nepal, from the semi-urban town of Panauti to the flat plains of Barauli.
This support not only helped bring travelers to these areas but also laid the foundation for communities to develop their own tourism initiatives and showcase their unique culture. One of the best examples of this impact can be seen in Barauli, a Tharu village located near the popular Chitwan National Park in Nepal. What started as one of our earliest community homestays has now grown into a full community stay.
Over the past ten years, Barauli has shown how community tourism can support the empowerment journey of women, spark new enterprises, and gradually change the tourism landscape of an entire area.
And yet, Barauli is more than just a single success story; it represents a broader journey of how one carefully nurtured initiative can ripple out to shape an entire destination.
Through Barauli’s story, I hope to reflect on a bigger question: how can one simple initiative grow into something that shapes a whole destination? And what lessons does it offer about building inclusive, resilient places through community tourism?
Putting Communities First
Barauli, a Tharu village in Nepal’s Nawalpur district, started small. Families were eager to host travelers, but at first, running a homestay wasn’t easy. Learning the ropes took time, and confidence was low. However, the situation started to gradually change when we (CHN) and local communities discussed and moved forward with the solution of having a local community manager.
Under this newly established leadership, the process felt different, someone from their own village was guiding the way. Families began taking charge, improving their services, welcoming more guests, and slowly realizing that true ownership brought real empowerment. Consistent visits from travelers helped too, giving families the chance to showcase their best and maintain momentum.
Partners like Planeterra supported the journey, turning ideas into tangible change.
From the beginning, Barauli focused on responsible tourism through local leadership and sustainable practices. Back in 2015, with a Planeterra grant, the village installed solar panels for water heating and street lighting. The original 12 guest rooms now had hot water and lights, improving life for visitors and villagers.
As tourism grew, they added eight more rooms, prompting the community to upgrade panels, add a shared bathroom, and even provide electricity to nearby homes during power cuts.
By 2023, further support from Planeterra via the Global Community Tourism Fund (GCTF) allowed the community to strengthen its tourism infrastructure and improve services for both travelers and residents.
One of the most significant outcomes was the installation of upgraded solar panels, ushering in a new era for the community, especially in providing hot water.
“With this project, we now supply hot water to a common bathroom accessible to the entire community, making day-to-day life much easier. Previously, the solar capacity was insufficient even to meet the hot water needs of travelers,” says Bhramhadev Chaudhary, Community Manager, Barauli Community Stay.
The enhanced system now provides hot water to 20 traveler rooms and one public bathroom. Daily chores in the community kitchen and centre, such as cooking, washing dishes, and maintaining cleanliness, have become far more convenient.
Additionally, the strengthened backup power ensures that essential appliances, like refrigerators, operate reliably even during load shedding, adding stability to the community’s infrastructure.
Building Together, Growing Together
With support from Planeterra and G Adventures, Barauli began welcoming travelers in a more structured and sustainable way. Since then, over 5,500 travelers have visited Barauli Community Stay, immersing themselves in a way of life that is rich in culture and rooted in nature.
As the hosts themselves describe it, “When travelers stay with our families, they’re not just guests, they become participants in a deeper cultural exchange, whether through cooking together, painting our walls, or joining us on a jungle safari. What matters most is not just the financial benefit, but the genuine connections we create with travelers.”
- In 2019, Barauli hosted 1,163 travelers before the pandemic.
- Post-pandemic, between April and December 2022, they welcomed 679 travelers.
By mid-2025, that number had already reached over 5500, showing strong recovery and continued growth.
Women at the Heart of Change
The transformative power of community tourism is vividly illustrated in the story of Jeevan Kumari Mahato, Operations In-Charge at the Tharu Community Lodge.
Jeevan’s journey shows how locally led tourism can shape both individual lives and entire communities. Beginning as a member of the Barauli Community Stay, she embraced opportunities often seen as non-traditional for women, including bartending training and working in resorts around Chitwan National Park, all while raising her daughter.
Today, she leads a team of 18 at the eco-friendly, community-owned Tharu Community Lodge, offering travelers an authentic experience rooted in Tharu culture and the natural beauty of the region. Reflecting on the changes she has witnessed, Jeevan shares, “I’ve seen incredible changes among the women in our community, they’ve moved from being confined to household chores to gaining financial independence, safeguarding our cultural heritage, and embracing environmental sustainability.”
During my recent visit to Barauli, I had the privilege of learning about Jeevan’s story and the journeys of many other local entrepreneurs. This was during Paryatan Sambad, an event our organization hosted in collaboration with the local government, tourism stakeholders, and the Nepal Tourism Board. The event aimed to amplify local voices, creating spaces where women could connect, share their experiences, and build networks, opportunities often limited by structural barriers.
Reflecting on these stories, I recognized how Barauli’s experiences mirror other examples of women-led and community-driven tourism across the globe.
A notable parallel exists between Barauli in Nepal and the Ccaccaccollo Women’s Weaving Co-op in Peru’s Andean region. Despite its proximity to Cuzco and Machu Picchu, the Quechua-speaking community of 140 families in Peru had limited access to the economic benefits of tourism.
Similarly, Barauli, located near Chitwan National Park, one of the most visited places in Nepal but inhabited by Indigenous Tharu people, was receiving limited tourism benefits before community-led initiatives took root. In both contexts, carefully guided support helped communities unlock the potential of tourism.
Likewise, with the backing of Planeterra, the community at Jukil Lodge in Bolivia received training in hospitality, organizational management, and business formalization, and was connected to G Adventures tours in 2017, ensuring a steady flow of responsible travelers and new economic opportunities.
In the same vein, Barauli Community Stay received support from 2015 to strengthen its local tourism capacity, develop authentic experiences, and connect with responsible travel networks, creating consistent visitor arrivals and reliable income streams.
The consistent arrival of travelers in both communities did more than generate income; it encouraged residents to see tourism as a viable and sustainable source of livelihood.
Supported by steady demand, locally led initiatives, and targeted capacity-building, both Barauli and Ccaccaccollo were able to design culturally grounded experiences, invest in local development, and plan tourism in ways that are socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable from the very beginning.
Inspiring an Entire Destination and Beyond
Barauli Community Stay’s journey since 2015 has created ripple effects across Barauli as a destination, demonstrating how community-led, culturally grounded tourism can transform a small rural destination.
During the same event in Barauli, I had the opportunity to explore how tourism is being institutionalized in the community. I spoke with various stakeholders from accommodation owners to nature guides to understand the evolving dynamics of local tourism, many of whom started their journey through Barauli Community Stay.
Among them was Buddhisen Chaudhary, one of the pioneers behind Barauli’s community tourism movement. He wears multiple hats: a founding member of Barauli Community Stay, Chief Experience Officer (CEO) at G Adventures, and co-founder of Tharu Community Lodge.
While reflecting on Barauli’s journey, Buddhisen shared his strong belief in tourism that truly benefits local people. Having been involved from the very beginning, he takes great pride in witnessing its transformation.
“Today, we have around 20 new accommodation businesses in Barauli, ranging from eco-lodges to community-run homestays, about 80% of them owned by local residents,” he said. “This includes Tharu Community Lodge, Green Village Hotel, Peacock Lodge, Mitjyu Cottage, and Lamichaur Agro Resort. It’s a positive outcome that shows how one community enterprise can inspire others to invest responsibly and take ownership of their own tourism development.”
At the same time, at least 12 local entrepreneurs have launched nature-based experiences such as jeep safaris, boating, and other activities that allow travelers to connect with the region’s natural beauty.
Over 66 individuals now benefit directly from employment in these community stays and lodges, and since 2020, more than 21,500 travelers have visited Barauli beyond Barauli Community Stay, a remarkable figure for a small rural area.
Women have also played a key role, launching eight tourism activities that engage around 15 local women entrepreneurs, including cooking with locals, cycling and sunset experiences at the Narayani River, exploring vernacular art and architecture, agri-based planting and harvesting, fishing, and traditional Tharu attire and henna tattooing.
When compared with global examples of women-led and community-driven tourism, Barauli demonstrates a replicable model for sustainable destination development, showing how consistent visitor engagement, locally led initiatives, and capacity-building can generate both economic and social value while safeguarding cultural and environmental integrity.
Even the previously neglected community forest is now carefully managed, with entrance fees and growing tourism motivating locals to protect and restore the area. Visitors coming to see rhinos, crocodiles, and a variety of bird species not only enjoy meaningful wildlife experiences but also support the community, reinforcing local incentives to conserve and sustainably manage their natural environment.
Beyond Barauli itself, this transformation has opened new horizons for local youth. Inspired by early pioneers like Buddhisen, now a CEO at G Adventures for a decade, many young people from Barauli have pursued careers in renowned hotels, resorts, and travel companies across Nepal.
What began as a grassroots community initiative has grown into a movement that not only strengthens the local economy but also broadens opportunities and aspirations for future generations, proving how one community’s journey can inspire change far beyond its borders.
Why Local Ownership Matters
Barauli stands as a living example of tourism that works. Rooted in dignity, equity, and collaboration, this once lesser-known village has grown its tourism footfall while consciously increasing local investment in property and enriching community-driven experiences.
This success is no accident; it stems from a steady flow of travelers, repeated capacity-building sessions, and sustained investment in responsible tourism from the outset.
These foundations have created a positive cycle, setting the stage for continued local investment and growth. It offers valuable insights into how local ownership ensures that financial, social, and cultural benefits remain within the community. It prompts us to ask important questions: When does thriving tourism truly benefit local communities? What makes a community resilient and able to prevent economic leakage?
At the same time, we must not ignore the reality that tourism is not always beneficial for locals in the long term, if not done right from the beginning. In destinations like Bali, for instance, tourism development often follows a very different pattern.
Many hotels and resorts are foreign-owned, and while some adopt environmentally sustainable practices, local communities frequently see limited economic benefits.
Barauli’s example reminds us that locally led, responsible tourism can chart a different and more equitable path. Studies show that high-end, foreign-owned hotels in Bali experience significant economic leakage, with up to 51–55% of revenues leaving the local economy. In comparison, smaller, locally owned accommodations retain a larger share of income, support local employment, and help preserve cultural authenticity.
In conclusion, Barauli shows that when communities own and lead tourism initiatives, the impact goes far beyond economic gains. It strengthens social cohesion, supports the empowerment journey of women entrepreneurship, safeguards cultural heritage, and fosters sustainable practices that benefit both people and the environment.
The lessons from Barauli remind us that tourism can be a force for inclusive and lasting transformation but only when the community is at the heart of every decision.
About the author:
As the CEO of Community Homestay Network (CHN), Aayusha Prasain is working towards strengthening the organization while streamlining and scaling the impact of tourism across communities. Along with her team at CHN, she also works towards bringing local actors into the tourism value chain and promoting responsible and inclusive tourism.
Visit www.communityhomestay.com to learn more about CHN’s work.
Planeterra & Regional Cooperation Council Partnering to Build a Sustainable Future for Western Balkans Tourism
Written by Blerina Ago, Regional Manager for Europe at Planeterra
Planeterra took an exciting step to deepen our partnership with the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), the EU-co-funded intergovernmental body dedicated to coordinating the tourism agenda across the Western Balkans.
As part of this collaboration, Planeterra successfully co-organized a crucial 1-day workshop on Community Tourism alongside the RCC’s annual Tourism Expert Group (TEG) meeting in Paris, France. The event was hosted at the Evaneos venue.
The workshop successfully advanced the regional dialogue on smart and sustainable tourism, with a sharp focus on how Planeterra’s Community Tourism model can drive positive, lasting impact. The event gathered government representatives from across the Western Balkans Six (WB6).
Why the Western Balkans is Prime for Community Tourism
The Western Balkans (WB6) has been gaining global recognition as one of Europe’s most dynamic and fast-growing travel destinations. With its rich culture, stunning natural landscapes, and incredible potential for rural experiences, the region is a perfect fit for Planeterra’s mission. The consensus was that strong institutional backing from the EU and the RCC makes it a prime region for strategic partnerships and investment in impact-driven tourism.
The importance of a collaborative approach and the Community Tourism model was a central theme throughout the day:
Marlene Bartes, Policy Officer, DG MOVE, EC, highlighted the need for international support, noting: “The future of the tourism sector is inherently tied to the success of the Green and Digital Transitions. For the Western Balkans to realize its full potential, strong European & regional collaboration—providing strategic alignment and support—is essential to harmonize policies and scale up smart, sustainable investments.”
Evisi Kopliku, Expert on Competitiveness, RCC, highlighted the importance of knowledge sharing and learning about best practices from different partners in Europe and beyond, through building partnerships and networks. “In addition, tourism remains an important sector for the Western Balkans Six as well as a priority agenda of the Common Regional Market, as demonstrated again in the WB6 Leaders’ Summit in London, who adopted the Regional Declaration on Regional Tourism Branding”.
Blerina Ago, Regional Manager – Europe, Planeterra, underscored the community-first approach, stating: “The Western Balkans’ tourism growth is a shared opportunity, but to make it truly sustainable, we must ensure the core principles of Community Tourism are embedded. This means granting the community significant say in development and management (Agency & Control), designing models to ensure fair profits and value stay local (Fair Benefits), and always prioritizing the welfare of residents, culture, and nature (Prioritizing Well-being). This is how we move beyond competition and embrace genuine regional cooperation.”
Laura Kotyga, B2B Sustainability Manager, Evaneos: “The meeting in Paris was a powerful demonstration of why public-private partnerships are crucial for sustainable growth. At Evaneos, we recognize that the scale of the green and digital transitions in the Western Balkans requires a harmonized effort. Our work on sustainability management and sharing effective models with the RCC’s Tourism Expert Group shows that by connecting the expertise of the private sector with the strategy of public bodies, we can help destinations in the WB6 not just grow, but grow responsibly, ensuring that tourism truly benefits the environment and local communities.”
Key Discussions: Putting Communities at the Center
At the workshop, which included presentations from Planeterra and Evaneos, in-depth discussions focused on how community tourism could address both social and environmental challenges in the region.
- Sustainability & Green/Digital Transitions: Attendees introduced key challenges and effective models for navigating the digital and green transitions, sharing examples from Planeterra and Evaneos’ work in the WB6 and beyond. This session strongly connected destination stewardship directly to community tourism models and discussed the relevance of the EU Transition Pathway for Tourism.
- The Power of Community Tourism: The session defined Community Tourism and its strategic role in fostering inclusion and empowering local populations. Discussions showcased successful case studies, identified key barriers to implementation, and explored the emerging sub-session on digital nomadism.
- Climate & Biodiversity Action: This critical session, led by Thomas Armitt, Senior Manager, Climate and Biodiversity at Planeterra, demonstrated how community tourism served as a powerful tool for addressing the urgent challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change. Discussions highlighted how environmental shifts impact the WB6 tourism industry, such as changing the appeal of coastal destinations due to extreme heat and the viability of winter sports due to lack of snow. Innovative models were presented that actively linked tourism revenue to environmental conservation and building climate resilience.
The importance of the regional approach was highlighted by TEG members:
Jiljana Vuksanović, Head of the Directorate for Strategic Planning, Ministry of Tourism, Montenegro: “Community Tourism is very important for the people who live in the area because it offers a good job and other benefits for development of the community. It is very important to boost community tourism through funding support for community tourism enterprises who want to do something and to improve, to develop all the area.”
Jelica Grujic, Head of Department, Tourism Department, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Bosnia and Herzegovina: “The experience that we heard today will be of much importance for us in the future. How to advocate for more community tourism and actually how to develop community tourism based on the main sustainable tourism principles in the future.”
Matina Hyka, Head of Sector of the Development Program, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports, Albania: “This event was very comprehensive, because Albania has just approved her national tourism strategy and all the topic discussed relating to the green tourism, community tourism and related are very important for us in this space. We can use them as a tool to drafting our bylaws and our secondary legislation.”
Jasmina Leskarovska, Advisor for administration and tourism, Ministry for Culture and Tourism, North Macedonia: “Our goal is to ensure that national tourism policies are fully aligned with the principles of sustainability and local empowerment. Regional cooperation is the most effective way to share best practices and guarantee that the WB6 moves forward with one harmonized and resilient strategy.”
The day concluded with TEG members advancing the development of Smart Tourism Destination scorecards for the WB6.
Lumturije Geci, Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, Kosovo: “Beyond discussing Community Tourism as a path to local empowerment, a major focus was on advancing the Smart Tourism Destinations framework for the WB6. The goal is to move from strategy to action by agreeing on the Destination Scorecards and setting a harmonized, regional roadmap for sustainable and digitally-enabled tourism development.”
Aleksandra Dolapčev, Tourism Organisation Serbia: “Building Smart Tourism Destinations is essential for the Western Balkans to proactively meet the new challenges of the tourism industry, particularly the accelerating digital and green transitions. Our focus now is on moving beyond strategy, improving and utilizing the Destination Scorecards to identify immediate gaps and challenges in our pilot destinations, and agreeing on a regional roadmap that ensures sustainable, competitive growth across the WB6.”
This final session aimed to agree and prepare one-pager Destination Scorecards, for further promotion and visibility of the WB6 tourism potentials.
By facilitating this cross-border exchange and promoting community-owned models, the workshop reinforced the collective commitment to ensure the Western Balkans’ tourism growth benefits everyone.
In the Media
Discover what the media is saying about this project:
- Tourism marketing effort will focus on Maine’s downtowns and local attractions – Maine Biz
- Community Tourism Projects Launch in Five Historic Maine Communities – Fox22 WFVX Bangor
- New community-led tourism initiative goes “beyond the guidebook” – Green & Healthy Maine
- Walking tour offers a taste of Biddeford – Saco Bay News
- Work by artists with developmental disabilities may bring visitors to downtown Gardiner – Spectrum News
- Sail a Boat, Build a Boat – Midcoast Villager
- Capshore Photography
- Maine Tourism Association Journey Through Wooden Boats Instagram Reel
- Dusk to Dark: A Paddle on the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine – 94.9 WHOM
- Westbrook to host “Paddle the Presumpscot” canoeing trips this summer – Portland Press Herald