Exploring Local Community Stakeholders’ Attitudes Towards Eco-Cultural Tourism Development in Oman

Oman is rich in natural and cultural heritage resources, yet several locations are currently underdeveloped and have low tourism activity. The destination has substantial potential for ecocultural tourism development that is emerging in prominence as a new form of tourism combining ecological and cultural heritage resources to create a tourist attraction. This study explores the perceptions and views of local community stakeholders in Oman to determine the drivers and barriers to local community participation in eco-cultural tourism development. It examines their support for developing two potential eco-cultural tourism attractions in Oman: The Ancient City of Qalhat and the Al Saleel National Park in Al Kamil, one of the Middle East's largest natural reserves. The Social Exchange Theory (SET) and the Residents' Empowerment through Tourism Scale (RETS) were used to examine how they may effectively engage local community involvement in eco-cultural tourism development. A qualitative study was undertaken to understand how residents see their role in eco-cultural tourism development. Individual interviews with tourism government officials, as well as focus group interviews with local tribal leaders and residents, were conducted for this study. The findings reveal that residents in both communities did not feel empowered to participate in tourism development at the two local attractions. Specifically, residents were not able to use their skills and traditional knowledge to self-manage the tourism development in their communities. This study proposes knowledge empowerment as a new dimension of RETS, which is a mechanism that focuses on supporting residents through training to enhance their knowledge and to gain technical skills to enable them to plan and make their own decisions and successfully take control of the development of their land and its eco-cultural assets. The main recommendation is for the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (MOHT) to assume a leadership role in providing residents access to knowledge resources and skills through education and training programs to achieve more engaged residents in eco-cultural tourism development.