藤本 直樹

Transforming tourism into a tool to conserve nature and improve community well-being requires increased community involvement in the development process. This paper focuses on the role of tourism social enterprises, which are expected to engage more comprehensively with local communities than traditional commercial companies. Recognizing that few previous studies have examined how tourism social enterprises can engage with local communities, this paper explores the case of a small enterprise, Entra Indonesia, which has endeavored to empower the local community by providing them with education, giving them an opportunity to guide tourists, showing them how to treat tourists, disseminating the value of sustainability, and putting aside 20-40% of its total revenue for local community development and revitalization. Employing a qualitative research methodology in a single in-depth case study, it presents rich insights into the ways a tourism social enterprise can foster community empowerment. The cultivation of an authentic research relationship with the founder of Entra Indonesia made this study's observations and in-depth interviews possible. The findings provide practical insights into the ways that small-and medium-sized enterprises in Indonesian tourism sectors of rural area can improve their operations by implementing the tourism social entrepreneurship elements to empower local communities. It also reveals how tourism social enterprises can raise awareness regarding value of sustainability among local people in the Indonesian context. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, such social welfare and community building efforts are even more important, and the transformational capacities of social enterprises will be crucial.