Abstract: In the last two decades, cluster policies have emerged as a central focus for decision- making processes related to territorial development. Additionally, tourism networks have attracted a great deal of attention and have widened the perspective of organizing for the development of economic systems. The main purpose of this study is to build on the initial work by Ritchie and Hudson on the evolution of scholarly conceptualizations of the tourism experience using aboriginal tourism in Taiwan as an illustration, with a view to further enhancing our understanding of the conceptual and theoretical foundations of the aboriginal tourism experience. This paper therefore synthesizes the literature and discusses the problem of a rationale for aboriginal (indigenous) tourism cluster formation in Taiwan as well as the impact of such clusters on the productivity of local communities and the competitiveness of different destinations.

Keywords: tourism cluster, tourist destinations, sustainable tourism, indigenous tourism

Introduction

As tourism is, to a large extent, responsible for economic growth, employment, and regional balances between individual countries and across regions, numerous tourism entities are looking to reinforce their potential in the development of tourism on the local and regional level. The competition among Tourism Destination Areas (TDAs) is not centered on individual aspects of the tourist product (environmental resources, transportation, tourism services, hospitality, etc.), but on the tourist destination as an integrated set of tourism facilities and experiences. However, an individual tourism organization provides only one or several components of the total tourism product that is consumed during the complete tourism experience. That is why the best modality for objectifying the production and supply of tourism products at the level of TDAs are clusters of tourism and non-tourism entities. From both an economic and social standpoint, their development and success are dependent on cooperation and sustainability.

It is beyond doubt that the current tourism development model, which also applies to indigenous tourism, has serious spatial and social consequences. These include the transformation of settlement networks and the quality of building resources as well as extensive social changes that often prove irreversible, like waning indigenous cultures and rising social pathologies.