The impact of community empowerment on sustainable tourism development and the mediation effect of local support: a structural equation Modeling approach

Sustainable development of tourism symbolizes a type of business activity that satisfies the requirements of both the tourists and the receiving communities. The paper aims to unearth the impact of community empowerment on the sustainable tourism development. Further, local support is incorporated as a mediating variable between the relationship of community empowerment and sustainable tourism development. For data collection, an onsite survey method is employed and the dataset of 368 respondents was analyzed to test the theoretical work. The fit of the framework is evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM). SEM confirms that all four hypotheses have a statistically significant relationship. The study findings indicate that community empowerment has a positive impact on local support and sustainable tourism development. Further, the study shows local support completely mediates the relationship between the two variables. There is a dearth of empirical research regarding the empowerment of the community, the paper findings will contribute a substantial part to the existing literature on sustainable tourism.