Community-based tourism development is receiving increased attention from a variety of sectors:for those in government and non-governmental organisations who have long been working withcommunities on wildlife and natural resource management, tourism enterprises are seen as one formof sustainable utilisation with potential to bring economic, as well as social, benefits tocommmunities. For those in government and the private sector working to develop the Namibiantourism product, development in commmunal areas and involvement of local people is one essential(though until now relatively unexplored) element. This paper seeks to bring these perspectivestogether, to consider how community involvement in tourism could meet various local, sectoral andnational objectives. The forthcoming legislation and implementation of Namibia's TourismDevelopment Study means that policies affecting communities' roles in tourism must be debated anddecided now, before the shape of the new tourism sector is finalised. This paper therefore seeks toraise awareness and discussion of such policies.The economic and financial analysis of tourism enterprises, particularly community-run enterprises,is also intended to assist communities who are interested in establishing and operating enterprises,and can be made available in more appropriate formats. Much of the research was carried out byresource economists in the recently-established resource economics programme in the Directorate of Environmental Affairs. The economic and financial analysis summarised in this paper is revised andexpanded on an ongoing basis, therefore additional and/or more robust results will be madeavailable periodically.