A reformulation of the 3 SS model for community-based tourism : towards an alternative model

Abstract

This article posits a 7S’s model to expand from the 3S’s model of Sun, Sea, and Sand as anchors for tourism development. It extends the discussion by arguing that within the 7 S’s model Government/community relationship must be elevated to take a new meaning – with Government as a facilitator and the community providing the decision-making platforms in a reconfigured bottom-up approach in the interest of holistic development. Thus, the 3S’s model is expanded to include Safari, Surfing, Shopping and Ski-ing to form a 7S’s model including Sun, Sea and Sand. The model is based on the soundness of leveraging on indigenous knowledge, community ownership of tourism resources, re-formulation of fitting and apt legislation and identity definition to achieve ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainabilities without which tourism cannot properly thrive. Based on this, the article argues that the tourism sector is particularly well positioned to enhance holistic development especially within particular historical-geographic contexts.