Rooted in Place: Why Local Communities Are at the Heart of Lasting Change

By Laura Negus, Head of Partnerships, Middle East, Camps International and Impact Travel Group

When we think about travel, we tend to focus on the places we visit and the experiences we bring home. But what about the people who call those places home? How does tourism affect their lives, and what remains once the visitors have left?

These are questions that have shaped my perspective through our work with communities across East Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Running permanent camps has shown me that being rooted in a place means more than operating within its landscape; it means building lasting relationships with the people who live there and understanding what matters to them.

It starts with listening

Every community is different. The challenges facing a village in rural Kenya will not necessarily be the same as those facing a community in Cambodia or Latin America. That sounds obvious, but it is easy to overlook when arriving with a plan for what a project should achieve.

Our approach begins with listening to local people and understanding their priorities. Rather than assuming we know what a community needs, we work alongside people to identify where support can make a difference.

That takes time. It also means recognising that local knowledge is just as important as outside expertise. People understand the realities of their surroundings in ways that visitors cannot, from the resources available to the challenges they face in everyday life.

When communities help shape the work taking place around them, projects have a stronger chance of responding to real needs rather than simply delivering what an outside organisation believes will be useful.

Creating opportunities that last

The same thinking applies to how our camps are established and run. Local people are involved in building and staffing our camps, and we look for opportunities to work with businesses and suppliers in the surrounding communities.

These decisions matter because the benefits of travel should reach beyond the people who visit. Employment can provide income and valuable experience, while working with local suppliers can create opportunities for small businesses. Just as importantly, training and development can help people build skills that serve them well beyond a single project or season.

For me, the important question is not simply whether local people are involved, but whether that involvement creates meaningful opportunities over time.

This is not always straightforward. Remote locations can make sourcing supplies difficult, and every community has different resources and priorities. There is no single approach that works everywhere. What matters is being prepared to adapt, build relationships and recognise that lasting partnerships are developed through consistent effort, not one-off gestures.

Conservation and community belong together

This connection becomes particularly important in areas where communities live alongside wildlife and fragile natural environments.

Conservation is often discussed in terms of protecting habitats and species, but it is also about the people who share those landscapes. If families experience wildlife primarily as a threat to their livelihoods, protecting it becomes much more complicated. Finding ways to address those concerns is an important part of making conservation work in practice.

In Kenya, Camps International’s Lion Lights initiative uses solar-powered lights to help protect livestock from predators. By helping reduce conflict between local families and wildlife, the initiative demonstrates how a practical solution can support both community livelihoods and conservation.

It is a reminder that protecting the natural environment cannot be separated from the lives of the people who live alongside it. Their involvement is essential, not an afterthought.

The value of being present

There is a difference between visiting a place and building a lasting relationship with it. Our permanent camps give us the opportunity to work alongside communities over time, rather than treating each visit as an isolated experience.

That continuity matters. Trust takes time to develop, and understanding a community’s priorities requires more than a single conversation. Being present creates opportunities to learn, adapt and build on work already underway.

It also shapes the experience of the young people who join our expeditions. Travel becomes more meaningful when they engage with local communities, contribute to projects and begin to understand the connections between people’s livelihoods, their surroundings and the challenges they face.

For us, that is an important part of education through travel: helping young people see a destination as more than somewhere to explore, and its communities as more than people they encounter along the way.

Ultimately, no two places will have the same needs, and no single model can guarantee lasting change. But our experience has taught us that listening to local people, working alongside them and recognising their role in shaping their own futures are good places to start.

Being rooted in a place is not about how well you reflect its culture or landscape. It is about the relationships you build, the opportunities you help create and whether the work you do continues to matter long after the visit ends.