COMMUNITY PERCEPTIONS OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN BIEN UNIDO, BOHOL ISLAND, PHILIPPINES Luritta Whiting* and Christie Patrick University of Washington School of Marine and Environmental Affairs 3707 Brooklyn Avenue Seattle, WA 98105 [email protected] The Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCE) is working in collaboration with Region 7 municipalities (Cebu, Leyte, Bohol) and various financial donors to improve resource management of the Outer Danajon Bank in the Philippines. One objective of the project is to develop dive tourism in the Outer Bank, with a focus on promoting the municipality of Bien Unido, Bohol. Dive tourism is currently absent from the municipality, despite the mayor’s efforts to attract investors and tourists alike. Collaboration between the mayor, CCE, and a private real estate developer established new plans to improve the infrastructure and livelihood of community members in Bien Unido by investing in dive tourism. The local community members have not been consulted regarding these developments. This study describes acceptable levels of social, environmental, and economic change according to those perceptions. A survey in the local language was administered to seven hundred participants, revealing generally positive insights into the theoretical development of tourism throughout all of Region 7. With dominating economic benefits, most respondents did not perceive social or environmental impacts as threats that outweigh the benefits of development. The study included semi-structured interviews with Bien Unido community members to define tourism, explore the local views from increases in tourism, and document specific needs of each smaller administrative unit termed a ‘barangay’. Trends from the inductive analysis primarily indicate positive perceptions of dive tourism development with a strong emphasis on desires for increased income and local community employment opportunities. The community members would welcome visitors regardless of most other impacts due to their dependency on foreign investments and financial backing. .