Community participation in marine ecotourism development: a qualitative systematic review

Community participation in tourism development has gained significant attention in recent years. While ample research has investigated how the community participated in developing tourism destinations and their industries, little is known about what factors, motivations and contributions of the community participating in the development of marine ecotourism. To fill the void, the present study conducts a qualitative systematic review of how community participation contributes to the development of marine ecotourism. The papers were included in the SCOPUS and WOS databases published between 2011 and 2021. In this study, the papers were selected using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. The keywords include "community participation", "marine ecotourism" and "qualitative". From 244, 12 articles matched the objective of the study and the keywords. Using thematic analysis, this systematic review discovers the factors, types, and outcomes of community participation in developing marine ecotourism. Additionally, the synthesis has revealed three challenges of community participation in marine ecotourism such as lack of training, local government support, and sociocultural awareness. This study significantly contributes to empirical considerations when involving the coastal community in planning and developing sustainable marine ecotourism.