Community-based ecotourism: The significance of social capital

This paper applies the concept of social capital to generate an understanding of the processes of social change leading to, and resulting from, the development of a community-based ecotourism venture in the Gambia. Results from the study indicate that while a high level of social capital may have been instrumental in the formation of this ecocamp, it could be in danger of being eroded, and environmental improvements jeopardized, because of the way in which the camp is being managed. The findings give empirical weight to the assertion that social capital is a "slippery concept", not least because the assumed mutually constitutive relationship between cognitive and structural social capital does not hold.