During the past decades, concern for rural poverty and underdevelopment of the rural communities of Namibia has been central to government development efforts. This has further given rise to several rural development programmes. While, some of the programmes have yielded fruitful results, many others have not achieved the objectives for which they were set up. Communuty-Based Tourism Initiatives (CBTs) are often considered as a component of broad-based plans to improve rural economies. This process occurs through increased community participation in decision making and the sustainable utilisation of both natural and cultural resources. This paper reviews the existing policy and planning frameworks in relation to tourism and rural development in Namibia. Policies aimed towards rural community development are reviewed with a focus on community-based tourism initiatives. The policy emphasises structures and processes to help local communities to benefit from the tourism industry, and the active and coordinatedinvolvement of communities, which is expected to ensure that the benefits of tourism trickle down to the local level where tourist activities take place. It is noted that in addition to public policy-makers, tourism developers and the private business environment in Namibia need to recognize the full potential of rural tourism development in order to meet the politically driven promises in policy level. In this respect there is a need to coordinate a comprehensive vision of what type of rural tourism development or tourism in rural environments holds the most potential to benefit both local communities and the mainstream industry. A new narrative is needed, that will enhance the capacity of local perspectives to address key lacunae in recent discussions, including questions of ownership, scale and dynamics.