Exploring the Prospect of Niche-Tourism in Western Australia with the Lens of Community Capitals: Implications for Regional Sustainable Development

Abstract

For regional sustainable development initiatives, there has been contestation between old industry sectors of mining and new industries such as tourism. Reliance of mining and the resource sector has resulted in fragmented top-down policies with an over-emphasis on economic growth, and often at the expense of social and environmental well-being. It is in this context that the question of how alternative forms of tourism that focus on small-scale bottom-up solutions/approaches e.g. niche tourism, can foster integrated regional sustainability is significant. Based on qualitative analysis of 37 semistructured interviews, this paper examines the prospect of niche tourism in the Great Southern and South West Regions of Western Australia (WA) using the community capitals lens.