International Journal of Applied Sciences in Tourism and Events ISSN: 2580-5592, Vol 4, No 1, 2020, pp 25-36 http://dx.doi.org/10.31940/ijaste.v4i1.1640 25 Role of External Stakeholders in Tourism Development and Community Empowerment Eva Rachmawati1*, Joanna Fountain2 1*Faculty of Forestry, IPB University, Indonesia,2Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, Lincoln University, New Zealand 1*vea@apps.ipb.ac.id, 2Joanna.Fountain@lincoln.ac.nz Article History Received on 02 January 2020 Revised on 20 April 2020 Accepted on 21 June 2020 Abstract Purpose: This paper explores the external stakeholder role in empowering the local community in tourism development. The objectives are examined through Namo Sialang village communities, a case study that purposefully selected to represent communities where tourism was developed in a bottom-up approach, which is a good start for community empowerment Research methods: The approach used is an in-depth interview with stakeholders that involved in tourism development in the village. Results and discussions: The finding indicated that stakeholder activities more likely to create ‘power over' within the community, which is an unexpected outcome for community empowerment. It is because their activities are focused only on certain community group (e.g., tourism industry member, tourism organization member) and have not considered the wider community. The material was given also more likely focused on tourist needs, and not for what community needs. Conclusion: In essence, the stakeholders involved in tourism development in the village have not applied an empowering approach for the community. Keywords: government, local community, NGO, role, sustainable tourism INTRODUCTION Empowerment theory advocates community-based initiatives as an advanced tool for sustainable development (Ahmad and Talib, 2015). Empowerment theory start known in western countries for more than three decades (Sadan, 2004); and used in a number of disciplines namely political science (Friedmann, 1992), women studies (Rowlands, 1997), psychology (Zimmerman, 1995), education (Freire, 1974), health study (Wallerstein, 1992), community development (Pigg, 2002) and tourism (Scheyvens, 1999, Sofield, 2003, Aghazamani and Hunt, 2017). Community empowerment is aim to give a community greater control over their resources and its utilization that affect their lives (Garrod, 2003). From the review, Aghazamani and Hunt (2017) suggested that empowerment is typically assessed via single-shot case studies that focus on outcome rather process. Still few scholars that focused on community empowerment process, particularly the role of an external stakeholder in achieving expected outcome of community empowerment. The term "empowerment" has various definitions and content. However, the concept generally contains two ideas, empowerment as a process and empowerment as an outcome (Alsop and Heinsohn, 2005, Pigg, 2002). As a process, community empowerment refers to a process of power transfer or control to another, both individuals and communities (Alsop and mailto:Joanna.Fountain@lincoln.ac.nz 26 Heinsohn, 2005, Pigg, 2002), so they can have more control to determine their affair (Sadan, 2004, Zimmerman, 1995). Power, in empowerment context, refers to an ability of an actor, individual or collective, to affect the actions of another. Empowerment theory extended to tourism in the 1980s. Akama (1996) first proposed the necessity of community empowerment for tourism, then Scheyvens (1999) proposed an empowerment framework as a suitable mechanism to analyze tourism impacts on local communities. Empowerment is one of the twelve agenda for sustainable tourism which aim is to increase local control, which means, “to engage and empower local communities in planning and decision making about the management and future development of tourism in their area, in consultation with other stakeholders” (UNEP and UNWTO, 2005). Community empowerment is seen as a way of achieving sustainable tourism development (Li and Hunter, 2015, Sofield, 2003, Scheyvens, 1999, Timothy, 2007). Local community needs to be empowered so they can determine whether tourism is an appropriate action to pursue; to have control over tourism development (Scheyvens, 2002); to define the forms of tourism they want to develop and the mechanism of cost-benefit distribution to maximize the benefits their receive (Akama, 1996). Sofield (2003) defined empowerment as a multi-dimensional process that provides communities with a consultative process often characterized by the input of outside expertise. In a tourism context, outside stakeholders may be involved as external agents in community empowerment. Support and active participation by external stakeholders are factors, among others, that support (or hinder) sustainable tourism development (Moscardo, 2005, Kontogeorgopoulos et al., 2014). Literature has indicated that support and participation from stakeholder are few factors, among others, that support sustainable tourism development (Moscardo, 2005). In community empowerment, tourism stakeholder has a role as an external change agent (Sadan, 2004) and sources of support (Steiner and Farmer, 2017). Stakeholders can act as a facilitator to link individual or community to development; and to support action and participation through encouragement and a continuation facilitation effort (Arai, 1997, Timothy, 2007). Tourism stakeholders generally consist of government at different levels, non- government organizations (NGOs), tourism industry members, educational institutions, tourists, and local communities (United Nations Environment Programme and Organization, 2002). Each has their own role in community empowerment in tourism development process (Figure 1). 27 Figure 1. Tourism stakeholder’s role in community empowerment Source: Tourism stakeholder’s role in community empowerment (Scheyvens, 2002, Drumm and Moore, 2005, Ruhanen, 2013, Sofield and Li, 2007, Zeppel, 2006, Gorica et al., 2012, Nikkhah and Redzuan, 2010, Cole, 2007, Moscardo, 2005). Empowerment is an ongoing and fluctuating process (Arai, 1997); therefore, the role of external agents will also changing in the empowerment process. Community empowerment is not just about communities changing as they ‘become empowered’, but also about stakeholder changing the way they work, to take more ‘empowering approaches’ (CDX & Changes, 2008). They also suggested five dimensions as a framework for planning work to empower communities such as confident, inclusive, organized, co-operative and influential. Related to stakeholder role in tourism development, one of the important threads in debates about sustainable tourism and empowerment is community involvement or participation, and it is acknowledged that the quality and level of participation varies across regions, particularly in developing countries. One factor that inhibits community participation is the top-down approach to planning or decision-making, whereby decision-making power lies with government or stakeholders with ‘official’ standing (e.g., NGO), leaving little role for local communities (Wall and Mathieson, 2006, Garrod, 2003, Zeppel, 2006, Wilkinson and Pratiwi, 1995). In some cases, planning is administered by 'outsiders', including government officials, who may view the community as 'an object' of development and design programs based on 'what the outside stakeholders can do' rather than 'what the community needs' (Narayanan, 2003). Furthermore, the unequal power between stakeholders and communities in decision-making often limits the community’s ability to obtain tourism benefits, thereby further inhibiting community empowerment (Coria and Calfucura, 2012, Narayanan, 2003, Wilkinson and Pratiwi, 1995). The recognized limitations of a top-down approach to tourism planning has led to calls in the development literature for bottom-up participatory approach, which is seen as offering the greatest potential to effect the necessary changes in local stakeholders’ attitudes and actions (Garrod, 2003, Wall and Mathieson, 2006, Byrd, 2007, Narayanan, 2003). This Government (National and local level)  Set a context and ground role (e.g., regulations, national masterplan) Community empowerment in Tourism development Non-Government Organization  Provide support (e.g., information and knowledge, financial, others technical assistance).  Connect community with other stakeholders Tourism Industry  Linking community with tourists (consumers)  Create opportunities for community to be involved in tourism  Create opportunities for community to interact with tourists Tourist  Motivate community members to be involved in tourism industry  Improve community skills and knowledge (through interaction)  Create new recognition for community resources 28 approach involves public participation in tourism development and encourages communities to take greater control of their future by becoming involved in the planning process (Wall and Mathieson, 2006). In this way, empowerment offers a way for communities in developing countries to have control over certain developments in their area to reduce the negative impacts and to increase benefits from the development to enhance their quality of life (Scheyvens, 1999, Sofield, 2003, Aghazamani and Hunt, 2017, Scheyvens, 2002). Based on the discussion above, there is a need to identify the roles of external stakeholders to empower the community in tourism development; as highlighted by Dolezal (2015) that the interaction between all stakeholders need to analyze since they will create the local spaces of empowerment or disempowerment in a particular area. By identifying, it is possible to gain insights into tourism development process and determined critical factor(s) that encourage and or inhibit the achievement of sustainable tourism goal including local community empowerment. Therefore, this article will explore how tourism stakeholder role in empowering local communities in Indonesia. To answer the central question, several objectives have been defined: who are the stakeholders involved; what is their motivation for their involvement; what role does community empowerment have in these motivations; and what is the role of various stakeholders in community empowerment, related to tourism development in the areas? RESEARCH METHODS The research objectives are examined through Namo Sialang village that purposefully selected to represent communities where tourism was developed in a bottom-up approach. Administratively, the village is located at Langkat District, North Sumatera Province, adjacent to Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP). The village has one tourism destination namely Tangkahan Ecotourism Destination, one of tourism destination in Indonesia that is developed based on local community initiatives. Tangkahan has a variety of natural attractions (e.g., plantation area, hot springs, waterfalls, caves, cliffs, high diversity of flora and fauna, and tropical rainforest) (Wijaya, 2009). Tangkahan also has another attraction, which is a trained elephant. Tangkahan is famous for being managed by the local community. The word "community" and the behavioral change from illegal loggers to tourism operators are the icons of the region's renowned. The community has been involved in the planning process. Tourism development at Tangkahan area started at the end of 1980 when several main actors of the illegal logger who released from prison took the initiative to open a tourism destination. The increase of the tourist, lead to conflict between illegal loggers and guides whose trying to protect their guests, and competition between tourism actors. In 2000, the community collaborated with stakeholder (e.g., NGOs, journalist, academician, government) to eradicate illegal logging activities that lead to conflict between illegal logger with the tourism industry and make the tourism activities in Tangkahan stop. In 2001, tourism activities revived again that pioneered by young generation who want to improve their economic condition. Those young people formed Tangkahan Simalem Ranger that initiated tourism development activity. On 19 May 2001, on the initiative of Tangkahan Simalem Ranger, the community agreed to develop tourism and formed a tourism organization, named Lembaga Pariwisata Tangkahan (LPT – Tangkahan Tourism Organization). The community also elected organization board through the voting process, developed management framework and basics principle of tourism development. In 2002, the community made an agreement with GLNP manager, which is the first phenomenon in Indonesia, since the regulation obliges every stakeholder who wants to conduct tourism activities in national parks should apply to get a specific permit (Ijin Pengusahaan Pariwisata Alam/ IPPA). The GLNP manager gave legal rights to the community through LPT to manage part of the national park area. In return, the village's community is responsible for maintaining and protecting national park resources. LPT is the first community institution that has legal empowerment from the central government to manage and organize tourism activities at the national park area. In early 2003, LPT becomes an open organization for the entire village community. It means that the entire community is a member of LPT, which 29 have the same rights and obligations. In the restructuring process, Tangkahan Simalem Ranger becomes one of LPT division. At that time, the LPT also formulated Village Regulation of Tangkahan Ecotourism Zone, which regulates all social life aspects, natural resources conservation, local economy, the role of youth, customs, religious and regional spatial planning in ecotourism development. This regulation is the first regulation which directly regulates conservation aspect and social institutions, that participatory designed. In the same year, there is an extended of an agreement between the GLNP manager and head of LPT, related the allocation of entrance fee and permit fee between them. Support from various stakeholders such as NGOs, universities and local government began to arrive (The Government of Langkat District, 2010, Harahap, 2012). Tangkahan ecotourism was officially launched in 2004 and get the national award of "Innovation of Indonesian Tourism" from Minister of Culture and Tourism for their management model (i.e., the participatory approach) (Kaur, 2010). In the end 2016, the agreement with GLNP manager is expired. Due to the implementation of new regulation (Government regulation No. 36 the year 2010), the community should apply to get a permit to manage tourism activities in the protected area (IPPA). It caused the conflict within tourism organization and between tourism organization and the village government. The village government wants to cooperate and collaborate with the tourism organization and to be more involved in Tangkahan management, while the tourism organization seems to reluctance to cooperate. The conflict also occurred between younger and older generation. The younger generation wants to improve the tourism development and makes some changes in tourism management, including build collaboration with the village government, while the older still want to manage the tourism as they have before. The research employed in-depth interviews approach since it considered an appropriate tool to use in planning and evaluating programs because they use an open-ended, discovery-oriented method, which allows the interviewer to explore the respondent’s feelings and perspectives on a subject (Guion et al., 2011). In-depth interviews are useful for learning about individual’s perspectives. This technique is an effective qualitative method to achieve research objectives since it can get people to talk about their personal feelings, opinions, and experiences of their involvement in tourism development in the research setting (Mack et al., 2005). In-depth interviews conducted with tourism stakeholders (United Nations Environment Programme and Organization, 2002) such as local government representatives, tourism operator/industry, tourism organization representatives, NGO representatives, national parks managers and extension officers. The researchers have interviewed 28 people from five type of tourism stakeholders. For the first interviewee, the researchers approach those who have an authority in tourism activities the area (e.g., the case study area’s leader or tourism organization leader), as the first participant, assuming that they have broad knowledge related to tourism development in the case study areas. Then the researchers ask him/her about the person from other institution that can be a potential participant and then approach those people or institution that recommended or mentioned by the previous participant. An interview guide developed based on the research questions that were used as an indicative guide when conducting interviews (Kvale, 1996 as cited at Guion et al., 2011). Several themes ask in the interview process are key informant background, organization profile, role, motivation, program/activities of community empowerment in tourism development in the area. The sampling method used to select participant are purposive and snowball sampling. Purposive sampling is a type of nonprobability sampling where the units observed are chosen by the researchers’ judgment about which ones will be the most useful or representative. Snowball sampling often employed in field research whereby each person interviewed may be asked to suggest additional people for interviewing. In snowball sampling, the researchers collect data on the few members of target population he or she can locate, and then asks those individuals to provide the information needed to locate other members of that population whom they happen to know (Babbie, 2007). Steps that taken to analyze the results of interviews are transcribing, analyzing, verifying and reporting (Kvale (1996) cited at Guion et al., 2011). Transcribing involves 30 creating a verbatim text of each interview by writing out each question and answer. The interviewer's side notes also included in the transcription, and properly labeled in a separate column or category. Further, to identify the themes and ideas, the data were coded manually. The researchers using open coding that involves the breaking down of data into its parts and looking for similarities and differences. The researchers used the topics and questions to organize the analysis, in essence synthesizing the answers to the questions that have been asked. Then, the data analyzed to identify patterns, themes, and ideas, from both existing theories and new issues which arose from the fieldwork, that are supported by interview quotations or observations. The themes then organized to interpret the findings and to produce a comprehensive and critical summary. The researchers described and analyze the findings from two case study communities separately. In the end, the researchers conduct comparative analysis to generate similarities and differences which led to the main conclusions of the research. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS Tourism Stakeholder Profile Stakeholders involved in tourism development in Namo Sialang village are local government (village government); central government (GLNP manager – representative of Ministry of Forestry); NGOs (i.e., tourism NGO - INDECON; wildlife NGO – CRU and OIC); tourism organization (LPT); and tourism industry. Some stakeholders (i.e., village government, central government, tourism NGO) were involved since the initial stage, while other NGOs involved in mid-stage. Each stakeholder has a different role in the development. In the initial stage, the village government involved in most of the tourism development (e.g., planning process, management activities). In current time, the village role is as an advisor for tourism development process; to support the LPT in legal aspect (e.g., sign a letter that needed by tourism organization); and to maintain safety and security in the village. For the central government involved because their main responsibility is to protect the national park area. Their role is to support and facilitate community in legal aspect and community capacity building. The tourism NGO is a non-profit organization focusing its activities on developing and promoting ecotourism in Indonesia. Its vision is to become the center of Indonesian ecotourism research, development, training and promotion. The mission is to develop and promote ecotourism in Indonesia to conserve biodiversity and culture as tourism assets. Wildlife NGOs involve in tourism development are OIC and CRU. OIC involved since 2001 and works to raise community awareness to relate to Sumatran orang-utan conservation strategies. Their involvement is more likely ‘on-off involvement’. They only involve when there is Orangutan issues/problem needed to address (e.g., when some of them are sick, injured, human-wildlife conflict). OIC mission is to contribute to saving Indonesian wildlife (i.e., Orangutan and its habitat). Therefore, since Tangkahan is an essential habitat for the Orangutan, and tourism can affect orangutan negatively, therefore the organization need to involve and intervene in the tourism activities. CRU, the only NGO that has a representative stay in the village, is a program conducted since 2003 by FFI, which co-operated with the national park and LPT. Its mission is to conserve threatened species and ecosystems. Initially, CRU worked at Tangkahan to support national park program (e.g., conflict mitigation and community-based forest safeguards schemes). Then, since the community has an intention to improve their welfare by developing tourism activities so that the organization felt necessary to support their effort. CRU support them with their resources such as the elephant patrol and their mahouts with unique skill, knowledge, and experiences, which used as a tourist attraction. Tourism organization that plays an important role in Tangkahan is LPT, which is an official caretaker that responsible to organize and manage tourism development process (i.e., planning, organizing and monitoring activities). The organization, which consist of local community, works collaboratively with the GLNP manager to manage and organize tourism development. LPT missions are to preserve and utilize the potential of non-timber forest products and environmental services in GLNP; to develop Tangkahan tourism area into an international tourism destination; to strengthen potential production sectors in the village, and 31 develop global interconnection network. The objectives of LPT strategy are to protect, conserve, and utilize GLNP in a sustainable manner and to increase local community capacity so they will be able to optimize potential development. On a daily basis, the institution role is to manage tourism activities in the area (e.g., Organize guides and visitor management). In tourism management, LPT implements “one gate management system”, which means every activity that takes place in the area should go through or get permission from LPT. Any stakeholders who want to do some activities or cooperate with the community or other stakeholders that exist in the area should inform and discuss it with the LPT board. In term of benefit sharing, LPT shares 2.5% revenue from tourism with the village government. Several tourism industries available are accommodation, tour operator, and guide. All those are a family business. Some owned by the local community, and some others owned by Bukit Lawang people. They build the business to increase family income and open new employment opportunity for local people. For tour operator, there is only one tour operator that operates in the area, namely the Community Tourism Operator (CTO), which is one of LPT division that manages tourism product, marketing, and tourist activities; and handling a tourist admission to enter the national park. Stakeholder Motivation and Purpose In general, most stakeholders have similar motivation and purpose, i.e., to protect and conserve natural resources by increasing community welfare. They expect, with the economic improvement, community pressure on national park resources will be decreased. The village government involved in tourism development because the area is part of the village and the people who initiated the tourism development are the member of the village community, while the central government involved because their main responsibility is to protect the national park, and the tourism activities and attraction mainly located within the national park. Another reason in the area has an illegal logging issue, which becomes the main problem for the government. The government needs community support to solve the problem; therefore, they have to cooperate with the community to achieve the goal. For tourism NGO, there is a unique condition in its involvement at the village. The organization involves because the community approaches them to help the community develop tourism activities. The NGO decides to involve because the community has initiative and motivation to change (from illegal logger to become conservationist). While for wildlife NGO, their motivation is to reduce negative impacts from tourism so it will not endanger the wildlife and its habitat. They are intended to facilitate community development process so that the pressure to the natural resources can be reduced and the community can help them achieve their goal. Tourism organization (LPT) was formed based on community awareness to be able to get an alternative livelihood. Their motivation is to transform community livelihoods, from illegal logging into ecotourism activities and to improve the local economy. The community chose the ecotourism concept because, in their opinion, ecotourism activity can provide benefits to the community. In general, the stakeholder motivation to involve in tourism development is to fulfill their mission and responsibility. Activities Conducted by Tourism Stakeholder in the Area Tourism development in Tangkahan occurs through several stages, from the planning process, capacity building, tourism product development, local policy development, institutional development, and promotion. The community involved in all stages and supported by stakeholders. However, most of programs and activities are held in the tourism hamlet, and the focus participants are the tourism industry member and tourism organization members. It makes the opportunity only limited to those who stay in tourism hamlet and other hamlets adjacent to the hamlet. The planning process was conducted by community and facilitated mainly by tourism NGO. In the planning process, the community design an agreement on long- term tourism management principles and a master plan that define ecotourism activities conducted in the area, parking area, how to monitor ecotourism destination, and zoning. In term of community capacity development, the central government, NGOs, and tourism organization conducted several activities namely training, discussion, and sharing 32 experience with other institution to get an idea of proper tourism management, in order to improve their knowledge, experience, awareness, and build pride and self-esteem in community, particularly the tourism actors, manager and policymakers. Material provided, for example, ecotourism versus mass tourism principles; inventory, identification and conservation of natural and cultural resources; guiding and interpretation; safety and security; Search and Rescue (SAR); services for tourist; tourism activities monitoring; hygiene aspect in food processing; administration; English language; handicraft for souvenirs; and tourist preference. NGOs help communities to develop tourism product development and facilitate community in developing local/village regulation related tourism to empower them in the legal aspect. In this stage, the LPT member learns how to write and design village regulation related to tourism development. Several regulations they made are village regulation on environmental and tourism management, tourism manager role and responsibilities; benefit sharing mechanism; and policy about cooperation type between LPT and other stakeholders. The community also learns how to build a network with other stakeholder and do the marketing or promotion. All activities were done with "learning by doing" methodology, where the community gets knowledge and understanding in the room, then learn and practice directly in the field. Tourism NGO assists community to develop organizational capacity which undertaken through meetings and training for LPT member about organizational management. The central government through national park manager conducted a program named Conservation village model. NGOs and national park manager support the LPT in marketing and promotion activities. For example, the NGOs helps LPT conducted tour trial, distribute promotion material (e.g., Brochures) in a national and international event (e.g., ITB Berlin), develop a website, website management training on a trainer, and write articles in various media. The stakeholder also facilitates CTO members to participate in tourism fairs in Medan to encourage the community to learn about market characteristic and marketing strategy. For monitoring activities, the stakeholders were mostly only doing it at the end of their program. There are no continuous monitoring activities conducted by the stakeholders. Among all stakeholders, the tourism NGO is the stakeholder that quite intensive assist the community since the initial stage of development. However, they only intensively involve until 2006. Currently, the NGO does not directly involved in the area, but they still communicate occasionally. The reason why they do not accompany the community, so there the community does not always depend on them and the limited funding. Community Empowerment Process From the activities conducted by community, arguably, that the stakeholders create four frameworks of power in the empowerment process namely ‘power over’ (domination), ‘power to’ (agency), ‘power with’ (collectively) and ‘power within’ (self-awareness) (Knight and Cottrell, 2016). However, that the process of generative empowerment (e.g., agency, collectively, and self-awareness), is only occurring amongst community members involved in the tourism industry and planning process. While for the wider community, including the disadvantaged group (e.g., women), experienced the power over. ‘Power to’ occurs in the form of the increase of community knowledge and skill to organize tourism activities, and in the end would be to increase their income. This increase in agency mostly occurred from tourism revenue gained from tourism activities (economic empowerment) but is limited to those involved in the tourism industry in each village. Related to “power with”, the process occurred in the improvement of public facilities (e.g., road and bridge) that build from tourism revenue that share by tourism organization (LPT). However, the improvement only occurs in certain hamlets or areas close to the tourism zone. The result indicated that the tourism organization acted collectively to empower others, in consideration to support them in fulfilling tourist needs. For “power within” (self-awareness), the self-awareness is limited to community members who are involved in tourism organization, particularly tourism organization board. Their confidence is increased, since the stakeholder often asked them to share their experience in developing tourism there 33 are (which is based on local community initiative) with other stakeholders, including international institution. Empowerment is about ‘agency’. However, the finding indicated that tourism stakeholder activities might increase the power over of local stakeholder (i.e., LPT) which is indicated that the stakeholder has not conducted the empowering approach. It is because their activities mostly focused only on certain community group such as a tourism community group. Based on Lukes (1974) as cited in Simons and Groot (2015), the power over occurred in the village are the power deals with access to and control over resources on which others depend (e.g., information); power to make people conform to their disadvantaged positions via values and norms (e.g., for women) and control over decision-making processes and agendas. The study indicates that stakeholders involved in tourism development at Namo Sialang worked to increase community confidence, which has improved people’s skills and knowledge so that they believe that they can make a difference and take part in and influence decisions and activities. However, all stakeholders have not worked in inclusive ways or considered that differences exist in the community. Neither have they promoted equality of opportunity and good relations between groups, or challenged existing inequalities and exclusionary practices. These external stakeholders’ activities focused on only the tourism industry members with material related to the tourism industry and natural resources conservation; they have not conducted activities for other community members or disadvantaged groups (e.g., women). The literature notes that to achieve community empowerment, stakeholders should tailor activities for different participants, acknowledging their condition and needs, rather than generalizing the community as a whole (Weng and Peng, 2014). In addition, though the literature suggests that community empowerment needs continuous effort (Li and Hunter, 2015), the tourism stakeholders mostly conducted one-off, short-term programs and without follow-up, such as evaluation or monitoring. Based on CDX & Changes (2008) dimensions, the research result indicates that the stakeholders only works in a confident and influential dimension. It can be seen from the activities that focused on the improvement of the community's skills, knowledge and confidence and makes them a belief that they can make a difference. For influential dimension, the agreement that given by central government can be seen as an effort to empowering community in political dimension since it provide legal empowerment for community and recognition them as an institution with wide rights to control the land, to make rules, and to establish mechanisms to enforce these rules (Sofield and Li, 2007) However, they have not work in inclusive ways since the not promote equality of opportunity and good relations between groups and challenge inequality and exclusion. It can be seen from their activities that only focused on only the tourism industry member. They do not conduct activities for the community group that stay far from tourism destination or the disadvantaged group (e.g., women). Stakeholders also have not worked on an organized, cooperative approach. They do not conduct activities that could bring people together around common issues and concerns in organizations and groups that are open, democratic and accountable. They also have not positive relationships across groups, identify common messages, develop and maintain links to national bodies and promote partnership working. CONCLUSION Support and active participation by external stakeholders are factors, among others, that support (or hinder) community empowerment in sustainable tourism development. The interaction between all stakeholders need to analyze since they will create the local spaces of empowerment or disempowerment in a particular area. By identifying, it is possible to gain insights into tourism development process and determined critical factor(s) that encourage and or inhibit the achievement of sustainable tourism goal including local community empowerment. Therefore, there is a need to identify the roles of external stakeholders to empower the community in tourism development. The study’s findings noted that tourism stakeholders have a crucial role in community empowerment. Despite the planning approach, stakeholders could influence the community empowerment outcome since they could affect the opportunity structure to increase 34 community empowerment. However, this study has not discussed their role in a detailed and deeper understanding. For example, how should they design or plan their programs and activities to empower the community, and afterward, how their activities and programs could empower a community and whether their approach is empowering. The finding of this study has indicated that stakeholder’s motivation play important role in the way their planning their activities and program. However, this theme has not analysis in detailed. Community empowerment is not only about how a community can become empowered, but also about how stakeholders can implement the empowering approach, a deeper study on how stakeholders’ conduct their empowering process if they already implement an empowering approach is required. 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