**11.3 Rural tourism destination stakeholders' roles**

The third main component of the destination brand framework in **Figure 1** is the destination stakeholders' roles. Analyses of data in **Table 6** produced eight main themes relevant to the construct of destination brand framework as follows: identification of rural tourism stakeholders – primary, secondary and tertiary stakeholders were identified; tourism destination stakeholders' roles; roles of destination management and marketing organisations (DMMOs). Similarly, leadership initiative in relationship building – bottom-up approach through committed community leaders and associations; strategies and benefits of relationship building; destination sustainability; and future of tourism development and management in Bario. The main significant finding in this study is that the starting point in developing a destination brand for rural tourism is the bottom-up approach, community-driven which would allow relationship building between the host community and other destination stakeholders. In other words, it should not be a top-down approach from the government ministries, agencies and department.
