Exploring community engagement methods and approaches, a one-day workshop for anyone in the Fife area to build their skills in this environment, Glenrothes, November 2024.

Abstract

Community Engagement: we hear it a lot, particularly from politicians when talking about controversial topics and projects: “We engaged with the community, and this is what they wanted”. In tourism, it can be used to find the balance between the social impacts of development – ensuring that what we, as development practitioners, do is in the community’s best interests. Responsible tourism looks at the social, economic and environmental factors; one of these is objective – money – you can count it. Another of these is theoretically measurable on both macro and micro levels, though tough to define - environmental. The final is very subjective and nearly impossible to measure with any proper level of accuracy – social. That’s where community engagement comes in.