The partnership aims to enhance the social, economic and environmental well-being of communities in the region.

Neil Walters, CTO’s acting secretary general, said the partnership is a further step in the organisation’s regional tourism development strategy to support entrepreneurship and community development.

"The participation of local communities in the tourism product is a significant part of distributing the benefits of tourism to all aspects of our societies", he added.

According to Planeterra, many community tourism enterprises have the ability to "change lives and keep tourism dollars in the hands of local people", but they "lack the support and training" needed to develop product offerings, capture the travel market and draw enough customers.

To address this, the non-profit organisation launched the Global Community Tourism Network, which seeks to "change the face of travel" by putting communities at the centre of tourism’s efforts.