Community participation in ecotourism project cycle and its impact on ecotourism sustainability in national priority forest areas of Ethiopia

Community participation is a key pillar of sustainable development for an ecotourism project. The study examined community participation at each phase of the ecotourism project and its impact on the sustainability of ecotourism in the protected area. It employed a descriptive and explanatory design with a mixed approach. Ecotourism experts and communities that settled around the forest were the target populations. Multi-stage, systematic random, and purposive sampling techniques were used to select respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data, while thematic analysis was employed for the qualitative data. The study indicated that community involvement is crucial at the initiation, planning, and monitoring and evaluation stages of ecotourism to ensure its sustainability, but insignificant at implementation. It indicates, their level of influence varied at each phase. It also revealed that community participation in planning has a more significant influence, followed by the initiation and monitoring and evaluation phase, but is insignificant at the implementation stage. Generally, without the engagement of residents, ecotourism sustainability cannot be achieved. The researchers recommended that stakeholders of the ecotourism project (including the government, tourism businesses, media, and non-governmental organizations) should work cooperatively to encourage community participation in the ecotourism project, thereby developing an impactful ecotourism initiative in national priority forest areas.