Power, Legitimacy, and Urgency of Community-Based Tourism Stakeholders in Northeastern Thailand

This paper examines the dynamics of Community-Based Tourism (CBT) stakeholder salience namely; power, legitimacy and urgency. Data is drawn from a doctoral research fieldwork, undertaken from 2013-2016 in two long running CBT villages in Northeastern Thailand which are Ban Prasat; an archaeological site in Nakhon Ratchasima province, and the ethnic Phu Tai cultural village of Ban Khok Kong in Kalasin province. Instruments include secondary data, participatory and non-participatory observations, and in-depth interviews using semi-structured questions with 53 key informants selected from 5 pre-defined stakeholder groups. Content analysis is employed using a modified stakeholder salience framework. The paper is structured into four main parts; an introduction to the theoretical foundations of the research, the examination of “legitimate” stakeholder groups and their dynamic relations, the discussion of stakeholder salience’s fundamental concepts of “who and what really matters”, and the limitations of applying a stakeholder approach in the CBT context. Findings unfold subtle but complex layers of process dynamics and stakeholder relationship. Women and the elderly are the backbone of a CBT process. Stakeholders play various roles based on group member skills. Roles and responsibilities are contingent, inclusive, and non-hierarchical. Functional differentiation serves as a management parameter and determines stakeholder urgency. Though CBT is managed through a participatory decision making process, the leaders are the most powerful stakeholder groups controlling tourism resources and regulations. CBT stakes are collective benefits. Normative legitimacy is found to be the most critical aspect. Interest overlap and the dynamic range of the stakeholder interrelations found in both CBT communities are too contingent and transitory for a unified thought on CBT management. Stakeholder interrelations transit as the setting evolves and the stakeholders themselves make decisions or change their opinions. This subjective element highlights moral essentiality and leadership dependence. Legitimacy is inevitably another form of power.