部落觀光產業是原住民族產業發展重要的一環，觀光產業可以結合文化、飲食、民宿、農林環境等作為內涵，設計成一套具有特色的旅遊行程，讓觀光客進入部落，人潮帶來錢潮，帶來就業的機會，也讓年輕人回流，有效解決獨居老人比率偏高，隔代教養普及的問題。當然，部落觀光也帶來對部落傳統文化的衝擊、帶來髒亂與利益衝突，這都是部落觀光產業發展需要正視的課題。為了解部落族人對於推動觀光產業真實的內心感受，本研究採質性研究，資料蒐集方法採半結構式深度訪談法。研究對象選擇參與東管處2012年「辦理東海岸社區部落觀光發展Discovery計畫」的9個部落，作為資料蒐集的對象，包括：東河部落、奇美部落、靜浦部落、白守蓮部落、水璉部落、新社部落、南竹湖部落、八嗡嗡部落與都歷部落。訪談了對部落觀光產業有參與的人士共13場次，涵蓋18位部落族人。在研究倫理部分業經國立臺灣大學行為與社會科學研究倫理委員會審查通過。主要研究發現包括：推動的動機受到政府相關計畫的影響、強調族人的自主性並希望經費可以獨立自主、在初期推動時部落族人大抵持觀望冷漠的態度，仍以自己的利益為優先考量，有所衝突時，會有抵制的行為、部落缺乏行政管理人才使觀光產業的發展受到限制、即使推動部落觀光，但經濟規模不大，缺乏穩定的工作機會，年輕人依然無法長期留在部落。據此，本文建議要加強部落自主與擴大族人參與、以部落組織作為培養人才的場域與政府在部落推動觀光產業初期仍需大力支持並持續輔導。

Tourism is an important sector for tribe development since it can bring numerous benefits into the tribe, including money flows and employment opportunities. And this might take care of many tribe problems, such as aging population, population decreasing, and development stagnation. However, tourism in the tribe is different from the ordinary tourism, it emphasizes more on the cultural, historical and ecosystematic aspects of the whole tribe, Based on those specific features, tourism in the tribe should pay more attentions to cultural and environmental preservation, as well as sustainable development. In spite of so many positive influences, tourism can also bring wicked effects, such as destruction of traditional cultures, damage to the environment, and unequal distribution of benefits. Cultural and environmental preservation are major concerns for the tourism in the tribe. Furthermore, the profits from the tourism should equally distribute to the tribe people because it is based on the specific feature and the whole atmosphere of the tribe. These issues need to be addressed before the tribe decides to develop tourism. With semi-structural in-depth interview, we have collected qualitative data from 18 respondents living in 9 tribes in eastern Taiwan, and the major findings are as followed: (1) receiving government project is the initiator for tourism development in the tribe, (2) tribe people are more passive in the beginning stage, pay more attention to their own interests, and sometimes lead to boycott behavior, (3) the tribe people need more knowledge and trainings on tourism management, (4) due to limited size of the tourism in the tribe, it is not enough to attract young people back to the tribe. Three suggestions are offered: (1) in order to protect tribe subjectivity and autonomy, tribe people participation in the tourism design should be protected, (2) the training of personnel should integrate with tribal organization to increase interaction and communication, (3) through the development of whole tribe tourism, government should make more commitment on long-term investments and provide more professional counseling and companionship to the tribe.