In my early days of travelling, circa 2011, I serendipitously landed up in a remote, rural, agricultural village in North Kerala, surrounded by rice fields, bamboo forests and mist-clad hills. There I learnt that local families took turns to host travellers like me in their homes, and local guides took turns to lead walks and other activities.
The majority of the money I paid went to to the host families and guides, but a small percentage was channeled into a ‘village development fund.’ The entire village voted to decide how that money was to be used – from setting up eco-friendly infrastructure to upgrading the school to ensuring water security for agriculture. This way, tourism in the village – facilitated by Kabani – not just benefitted one or two enterprising individuals, but the entire community.
I didn’t know it then, but this is what is known in the tourism industry as community tourism or CBT, short for community based tourism.
In the years since, I have actively sought out community tourism initiatives around the world. From Thailand to Peru, this has allowed me to spend time with local communities and experience their way of life, while also ensuring that the money I spend as a traveller can be spread out to have a positive impact on the people and places I visit.