Assessing Mukah Community's Readiness Participation in the Ecotourism Industry
Abstract
Ecotourism is a distinct category within the broader tourism sector. Ecotourism is an excellent option for enhancing local socioeconomic circumstances and generating economic activity that positively impacts the national economy. The involvement of local communities, specifically rural youth communities, in ecotourism activities can offer employment prospects such as serving as nature guides, engaging in business ventures within the ecotourism industry, benefiting from the activities and products of ecotourism, and fostering social connections and local income growth. However, an essential determinant of the effectiveness of tourist development programs is the level of readiness within the community to engage in these ecotourism activities. The objective of this essay is to evaluate the preparedness of the local community in Mukah for the implementation of ecotourism activities. The study was carried out as part of the community program. A total of 62 respondents originated from the surrounding communities of Mukah, Sarawak. The findings indicated that most participants had neither attended nor received any kind of training in nature guiding. Although most respondents initially did not engage in ecotourism activities, a significant number of them showed a newfound interest in becoming nature guides and stated a readiness to pursue relevant courses in the future after enrolling in the program. It indicates that a significant proportion of young people participating in this program had the necessary readiness to engage in local ecotourism initiatives.
Downloads
References
Ab Manaf, N., Samsudin, H., Omar, K., Abdul Halim, M., & Md Razali, M. (2021). Kesediaan Komuniti dalam Ekopelancongan di Hulu Terengganu. Jurnal Dunia Perniagaan, 3(1), 9-18. Retrieved from https://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/jdpn/article/view/12907
Abd Halim, N. I. B., & Choy, E. A. (2016). Hubungkait Peranan Pihak Kerajaan Dan Pihak Masyarakat: Pembangunan Ekopelancongan Di Pulau Langkawi, Kedah. e-BANGI, Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 1(11), 21-44. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/openview/615048a5b2a8b3551a9186fccc8967cb/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=616374
Assaf, A. G. (2012). Benchmarking the Asia pacific tourism industry: A bayesian combination of DEA and stochastic frontier. Tourism Management, 33(5), 1122–1127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.11.021
Azis, S. S. A., Sipan, I., & Sapri, M. (2018). Creating an innocuous mangrove ecosystem: Understanding the influence of ecotourism products from Malaysian and international perspectives. Ocean & Coastal Management, 165, 416-427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.09.014
Ceballos-Lascurain, H. (1987). The future of ecotourism. Mexico Journal, 13-14.
Choy, E. A., Rose, R. A. C., Lyndon, N., Abdullah, M. A., & JH, A. (2012). Ekopelancongan dan analisis sosioekonomi komuniti Ulu Dong. Journal of Society and Space, 8(9), 46-52.
Garrod, B., Wornell, R., & Youell, R. (2006). Re-conceptualising rural resources as countryside capital: The case of rural tourism. Journal of rural studies, 22(1), 117-128. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2005.08.001
Giddings, B., Hopwood, B., & O'Brien, G. (2002). Environment, economy and society: fitting them together into sustainable development. Sustainable development, 10(4), 187-196. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.199
He, Y., Huang, P., & Xu, H. (2018). Simulation of a dynamical ecotourism system with low carbon activity: A case from western China. Journal of environmental management, 206, 1243-1252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.09.008
Iqbal, A., Ramachandran, S., Siow, M. L., Subramaniam, T., & Afandi, S. H. M. (2022). Meaningful community participation for effective development of sustainable tourism: Bibliometric analysis towards a quintuple helix model. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 39, Article 100523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jort.2022.100523
Lee, T. H., & Jan, F. H. (2018). Ecotourism behavior of nature-based tourists: An integrative framework. Journal of Travel Research, 57(6), 792-810. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287517717350
Leksakundilok, A. (2004). Community participation in ecotourism development in Thailand. [Doctoral thesis, The University of Sydney]. https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/668
Khatun, F., Heywood, A. E., Ray, P. K., Bhuiya, A., & Liaw, S. T., (2016). Community readiness for adopting mHealth in rural Bangladesh: A qualitative exploration. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 93(16), 49-56 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2016.05.010
Nunkoo, R., & Gursoy, D. (2012). Residents’ support for tourism: An identity perspective. Annals of tourism research, 39(1), 243-268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.05.006
Ramachandran, S., Shuib, A., Husaini, S. H., Johari, S., & Afandi, S. H. M. (2016) Eco-Tourism Potentials Of Peat Soil Forest In Mukah, Sarawak. Proceedings of the 15th International Peat Congress, 563-566, International Peatland Society. Retrieved from https://peatlands.org/document/eco-tourism-potentials-of-peat-soil-forest-in-mukah-sarawak/
Rasoolimanesh, S. M., Jaafar, M., Ahmad, A. G., & Barghi, R. (2017). Community participation in World Heritage Site conservation and tourism development. Tourism Management, 58, 142-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.10.016
Reimer, J. K., & Walter, P. (2013). How do you know it when you see it? Community-Based ecotourism in the cardamom mountains of southwestern Cambodia. Tourism Management, 34, 122–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2012.04.002
Sawitri, D. (2004). Pengaruh Faktor Produktivitas Terhadap Kinerja Dan Nilai Tambah Pada Industri Kecil Makanan Di Jawa Timur (Doctoral dissertation, UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA). https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200813.008
Scheyvens, R. (1999). Ecotourism and the empowerment of local communities. Tourism management, 20(2), 245-249. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(98)00069-7
Scheyvens, R. (2000). Promoting women's empowerment through involvement in ecotourism: Experiences from the Third World. Journal of sustainable tourism, 8(3), 232-249. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669580008667360
Scheyvens, R. (2007). Ecotourism and gender issues. In James Higham (Ed.), Critical Issues in Ecotourism: Understanding a complex tourism phenomenon (pp. 185-213). Science Direct. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-7506-6878-1.50014-1
Set, K. (2013). Determining the key success factors of tourism small and medium-sized enterprises (TSMEs) in Malaysia (Doctoral dissertation, PhD Thesis. Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle. Australia). https://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Download/uon:13735/ATTACHMENT02
Stronza, A. L., Hunt, C. A., & Fitzgerald, L. A. (2019). Ecotourism for conservation? Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 44, 229–253. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-101718-033046
Teka, O., Houessou, L. G., Djossa, B. A., Bachmann, Y., Oumorou, M., & Sinsin, B. (2019). Mangroves in Benin, west africa: Threats, uses and conservation opportunities. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 21(3), 1153–1169. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-017-0075-x
The International Ecotourism Society (2015, January 7). TIES Announces Ecotourism Principles Revision. Retrieved from https://ecotourism.org/news/ties-announces-ecotourism-principles-revision/
Tosun, C. (2006). Expected nature of community participation in tourism development. Tourism Management, 27, 493–504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2004.12.004
Wardle, C., Buckley, R., Shakeela, A., & Castley, J. G. (2021). Ecotourism’s contributions to conservation: Analysing patterns in published studies. Journal of Ecotourism, 20(2), 99-129. https://doi.org/10.1080/14724049.2018.1424173
Wondirad, A., & Ewnetu, B. (2019). Community participation in tourism development as a tool to foster sustainable land and resource use practices in a national park milieu. Land Use Policy, 88, Article 104155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104155
World Tourism Organization (2019), International Tourism Highlights, 2019 Edition, UNWTO, Madrid, World Tourism Organization https://doi.org/10.18111/9789284421152
Wu, J., Zuo, J., Li, L., & Liu, S. (2022). Evaluation and influencing factors of farmers’ sustainable livelihood response to ecocultural tourism in minority areas of China. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10, 1080277. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.1080277