Challenges to Implementing Community Based Ecotourism

Community based ecotourism (CBET) is a well-established concept and its implementation has been an important component for many regional development strategies. This Book argues that CBET originated as a Western concept, and there are many successful CBET projects. However, CBET operates within geo-political, economic and cultural contexts, which generate challenges for its implementation. This volume discusses a CBET initiative in the Kudawa- Sinharaja site, Sri Lanka which shifted in 1995 from a central government approach to a community forest informed master plan, in line with Western CBET development models. This case study therefore provides the opportunity to explore the success of this CBET project.