Tourism Development through the Sustainable Development Funding Scheme within the Brecon Beacons National Park

This research article explores the role of public funded schemes within the Brecon Beacons National Park that strive to encourage community driven sustainability initiatives, whilst assessing the relevance of tourism to such schemes. The National Park provide funding for community led sustainability programmes, known as the Sustainable Development Fund, the examination of this funding led to findings which challenge the common assumption that funding for community led schemes will be of net benefit at the local level. Through the examination of the theoretical rhetoric and the empirical findings via the use of focus groups it was observed that certain components reflected in most rural development programmes such as the integration of tourism and participation are still barriers to rural development and continue to hamper the effectiveness of not only the Sustainable Development Funding schemes, but the communities striving for sustainability.