From 5th to 11th November 2025, HERITΛGE delivered a new five-day online training course on Community Tourism Planning and Development. Led by Tim Healing, a specialist in project management and community-based tourism, the course brought together 30 participants from 18 countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe, working across 34 capacity-building cases. The training introduced practical approaches to developing tourism initiatives that support local communities, promote cultural exchange, and retain income within local economies.

The course was designed as an interactive programme, combining presentations, discussions, and group exercises. Participants collaborated throughout the week, sharing experiences and applying learning through practical activities such as designing cultural trips, developing project proposals, and creating action plans to address challenges in community tourism management.

Course Structure

Day 1 introduced community-based tourism as a people-centred approach to sustainable development. Using a case study from Kazakhstan, participants explored how local assets can be developed into tourism products while ensuring fair benefit sharing. Group exercises focused on identifying risks, building partnerships, and setting clear goals aligned with community priorities.

Day 2 focused on authentic tourism products and community-led branding. Participants discussed storytelling, local values, and low-cost marketing strategies, alongside capacity building in hospitality and communication, with attention to avoiding the commodification of cultural heritage.

Day 3 examined land rights and ethical cultural tourism. Through global case studies, participants explored community ownership, informed consent, and fair benefit sharing, as well as homestays, guesthouses, and eco-lodges as models for cultural exchange and local income generation.

Day 4 centred on visitor experience and tourism operations, highlighting culinary heritage, cultural sensitivity, and hospitality standards. A case study exercise addressed guiding, cross-cultural communication, hygiene, emergency preparedness, and responsible itinerary design.

Day 5 focused on long-term sustainability and community enterprise. Participants explored skills development, financial planning, and community cooperatives as tools for strengthening governance and ensuring tourism income remains within communities, concluding with group presentations on international case studies. These case studies included a Community-Based Tourism Initiative in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam, and Eco-Tourism Initiative at Daintree Rainforest, Australia.

Throughout the course, participants developed projects addressing diverse contexts, including heritage routes, eco-tourism initiatives, community museums, cultural landscapes, and heritage-based livelihood programmes. By the end of the training, participants had strengthened their understanding of community tourism as a tool for sustainable development, cultural preservation, and local economic empowerment, and gained practical skills to plan and manage tourism initiatives that place communities at the centre.

Reflecting on the programme, Tim Healing highlighted the strength of the group and their engagement:

“I couldn’t have asked for a better group. Their openness, collaboration, and eagerness to learn made the five days both productive and inspiring. The real highlight was the collective wisdom in the room and the willingness to share experiences and ideas.”

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