Structural Barriers, Community Participation, and Sustainable Tourism Development: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Khmer Ok Om Bok Festival

Abstract

This study examines how structural power relations, cultural meanings, and tourism development interact to shape community participation in the Khmer Ok Om Bok Festival in Tra Vinh, Vietnam. Situated within an ethnic-minority context where ritual practices carry profound spiritual significance, the festival is undergoing increasing transformation as heritage-tourism initiatives intensify. The research adopts a qualitative-driven mixed-methods design integrating descriptive survey data (n = 328) with 20 in-depth interviews. Findings reveal a pronounced participation gap: while cultural attachment and ritual involvement remain strong, community participation in festival governance is limited. Through an integrated CBT–Arnstein–TPB framework, the study demonstrates that tokenistic governance structures, uneven benefit distribution, and concerns about cultural authenticity suppress perceived behavioral control and diminish local agency. The study contributes to debates on cultural change, festival transformation, and minority heritage politics by explaining why cultural centrality does not translate into institutional power, and argues that sustainable festival-based tourism requires redistributing authority, formalizing community roles, and safeguarding ritual integrity amid commercialization pressures.