Creative tourism as a driver for sustainable development: A model for advancing SDGs through community-based tourism and environmental stewardship

This study examines how community-based tourism (CBT) enterprises can strategically leverage creative tourism to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through sustainable tourism, cultural revitalization, and inclusive community empowerment. Despite increasing global interest in creative tourism, empirical insights on its transformative potential within CBT frameworks remain limited—particularly in ecologically sensitive rural contexts. Addressing this gap, this research presents a case study of Ban Laem in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, an award-winning CBT initiative that has successfully embedded creative tourism to drive economic diversification, environmental stewardship, and social cohesion. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and stakeholder interviews, the study introduces the MOST model—Managing Local Identity, Operation, Sustainable Tourism, and Travel Experience —as an empirically grounded framework for integrating creative tourism into CBT. Anchored in the Community Capitals Framework (CCF), the model demonstrates how investments in social, cultural, and natural capital can produce a ‘spiraling-up’ effect toward community resilience and sustainability. The findings highlight key success factors, including collaborative governance, adaptive innovation, capacity building, and participatory management. The study offers theoretical contributions to the intersection of creative tourism and sustainable development, while providing actionable insights for policymakers, tourism practitioners, and community leaders seeking to implement measurable and community-driven tourism models aligned with SDG indicators. • Creative tourism for SDGs: Using creative tourism to promote sustainable development and resilience. • Ban Laem’s success story: A model of creative tourism driving community empowerment. • Introducing the MOST model: A framework for balancing tourism, sustainability, and culture. • Collaboration drives success: Local stakeholder involvement ensures sustainable tourism growth. • Tourism policy recommendations: Insights for developing inclusive and eco-friendly tourism strategies.