This study aims to understand the linkage among sustainability initiatives (SIs), community development (CD) and community well-being (CW) in tourism.
The exploratory sequential methodology consists of expert interviews, a questionnaire survey and the model verified with analysis of moment structures 22.
This study shows that the direct relationship between community-level SIs and CD and CW is significant and positive. The direct relationship between CD and CW is significant and positive. CD partially mediates the relationship between community-level SIs and CW in Indigenous tourism business operations.
This study assumes significance in developing Indigenous tourism destinations and calls for an integrated development strategy at the community level to enhance CW. This study provides a path for examining the contribution of grassroots-level sustainable business initiatives, their development and the community’s well-being. This study was confined to protected area-based destinations and focused on CD and well-being as a result of local-level SIs.
This study extends the scope for further research in measuring other perceived linkages of SIs with Indigenous community’s quality of life.
This study provides a path for examining the contribution of grassroots-level sustainable business initiatives and their development contributions and the ‘community’s well-being.
This exploratory research examining the relationship among community-level SIs, CD and CW hitherto unexplored in tourism among grassroot-level communities.
