The Facade of Participation: Power Dynamics and Structural Barriers in Ethnic Tourism Planning – An Insider’s Perspective from Vietnam

While Community-based tourism (CBT) is widely promoted as a means of indigenous empowerment, its implementation within centralized governance contexts often devolves into tokenism. This study deconstructs the “facade of participation” at Bau Truc pottery village (Vietnam), a UNESCO heritage site currently straining under the pressures of tourismification. Employing a rare insider perspective combined with 40 in-depth interviews, this research integrates Arnstein’s ladder with Tosun’s typology to map the prevailing power relations. The findings reveal a distinctly stratified structure: state agencies enforce “Coercive participation” through bureaucratic paternalism; local cooperatives operate under a mechanism of “Induced participation”; while residents are relegated to a “Passive” level. The article argues that this exclusion is driven not only by top-down mechanisms but is also legitimized by a “capacity deficit trap”—wherein the community lacks the necessary resources to exercise self-determination. Consequently, the study proposes a shift from a control-oriented model to a “Facilitated empowerment” framework, emphasizing the necessity of capacity building prior to the full transfer of power.