**2. Methodology**

This paper uses content analysis to review the current community participation literature with respect to rural WHSs. To be more exact, we reviewed books and scholarly articles published in refereed tourism journals identified using Google Scholar from 1990 until late 2015. Content analysis is a research method used to trace the evolution of a phenomenon over an extended period and can reveal a wealth of related knowledge [21,22]. We searched Google Scholar for scholarly articles using three groups of keyword searches. In search Group 1, we searched for "community participation," "community involvement," "community engagement," "resident participation," "resident involvement," "resident engagement," and "public participation." In Group 2, we searched for "rural destinations" and "rural tourism." In Group 3, we searched for "World Heritage Site," "heritage management," and "heritage tourism." We narrowed our search by combining these three keyword groups. We finalised our list of articles by including at least a keyword from Group 1 and another keyword from either Group 2 or 3. Using this method of selecting the articles, we identified approximately 60 literary sources for analysis. Each article was reviewed and analysed to identify (a) the concept of community participation in tourism destinations, particularly rural WHSs; (b) the various types of community partici‐ pation and what was most prevalent in rural WHSs; and (c) the factors influencing the successful community participation of residents in rural WHSs. Using this approach, we elucidated a number of recommendations for rural WHS authorities looking to successfully involve local communities in sustainable WHS conservation and tourism development.
