Community Implementation of the ASEAN Community-Based Tourism (CBT) Standard: An Executive Stakeholder Study on Lao PDR

The ASEAN Community-based Tourism (CBT) Standard was adopted by 10 ASEAN member states in 2016 in order to collectively promote the ASEAN region as a competitive and sustainable community-based tourism destination and to enhance sustainable tourism provision through ASEAN criteria. Among the ten ASEAN member states, Lao PDR (Laos) has a unique CBT development experience through collaboration with various international development agencies that started in 1999. Such a history brought about issues when the ASEAN CBT Standard was implemented at the provincial and district levels in Laos, including the concerns of related communities on the ASEAN CBT Standard not being easily applicable considering the state of tourism development. While the adoption and application of the regional standard called the ASEAN CBT Standard is a significant collective enforcement involving the tourism industries in ASEAN, there has been a lack of studies regarding the dynamics of the implementation of regional tourism standards at the national level. In order to fill this research gap, this study utilized in-depth interviews with seven executives with significant experiences from the government, international development agency, international organization, and private sectors. Interviewees give a diversity of perspectives on the enabling factors and challenges in implementing the ASEAN CBT Standard at the national level (focusing on Laos), which showed the complexity of CBT dynamics and necessity of good governance. The results also revealed how regional standards can be further recognized, promoted, sustainable to the key stakeholders of the Laos tourism industry, better accepted and utilized by end users, and possibly better customized according to the local circumstances for sustainable tourism development. The findings of this study evidence that collaboration among key stakeholders and the expected roles of these stakeholders are critical when implementing the ASEAN CBT Standard.