Abstract
This study examines the tourism development process of a small island, Woodo Island in Korea, which was an unplanned community-based tourism. The development gained a high level of empowerment and the voluntary involvement of the local community in the decision-making process of Woodo Island tourism development and successfully shared the socio-economic benefits derived from a tourism industry. The tourism development of Woodo Island was significantly associated with the transportation companies, in particular, the ferry company. Therefore, the study, interviewed 28 people from four distinct groups of islanders: a) islanders who were the initial members of the ferry business development in the 1990s; b) public servants on the island; c) islanders who became involved with the ferry business from 2004; and d) islanders who had no direct relationship with the ferry business. The community-based tourism developments in Woodo Island were begun in 2004 when the main shareholders of the ferry transport companies voluntarily gave up their individual vested rights in the company and turned over their individual shares of the ferry and bus companies to a large number of Woodo Islanders. As a result, about half of the households on Woodo Island became involved in the ferry transportation business as shareholders and the rest of the Woodo Island residents began using the ferry service free of charge. This was the pivotal turning point for the islander's proactive involvement and participation in the tourism development. The islanders' attitudes toward the tourists dramatically changed favourably when they became the right vested group of the tourism industry. The socioeconomic benefits were evenly distributed to all islanders and the environmental conservation of the island environment was closely looked after and maintained. The case study of Woodo Island provides significant challenges and presents valuable implications for the management of community-based tourism, particularly to improve the proactive participation of the local residents in the "unplanned" tourism development.