ABSTRACT
This closing chapter examines the thematic threads that link the chapters to form a framework for examining, reflecting on, and informing action on the interrelationships among cultural sustainability, tourism, and local development. While highly interconnected, at an overarching level, four key themes emerge: Caring for culture - fostering cultural stewardship and sustainability while enabling cultural adaptations and new approaches to traditional and emergent resources; Enabling culturally sensitive modes of tourism - encouraging locally beneficial modes of tourism which reshape relations between visitors and local residents and highlight the specificities of a place; Empowering community - strengthening local community agency and designing inclusive and participative governance frameworks and mechanisms to better understand and act upon dynamics and issues concerning tourism, local cultural vitality, and social well-being; and Improving place - leveraging the interactions between tourism and culture to engender positive placemaking dynamics that improve the cultural vitality, quality of life, and experience of place for both residents and visitors and thus contribute to sustainable development trajectories. The chapter closes with a synthesis of the book’s authors’ pragmatic advice to foster the economic, social, and cultural vitality and sustainability of local communities through culture-based tourism initiatives.
