For instance, analysing the organisation of 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa could represent the ideal context for testing our arguments; (ii) the YRD area has reached standards of wealth close to those of some developed countries, and therefore it represents a sort of avant-garde situation within developing countries, if we accept Tosun’s (2000) idea of community participation as being positively correlated to wealth and development. However, this limitation provides room for further research to analyse whether the gradual opening-up towards community participation may be enhanced by community wellbeing or wealth. Finally, it is important to note that further research efforts should be carried out in the future to analyse the outcomes of the participative approach of tourism development in the YRD area. A first important moment of truth will be the analysis of the results of Shanghai World Expo, and contributions in this sense will represent the ideal continuation of the present work.