Tourists’ Perceived Destination Competitiveness in Protected Areas: The Case of Semenggoh Nature Reserve

Jun Zhou Thong, May-Chiun Lo*, Mohamad Kadim Suaidi, Abang Azlan Mohamad and Chee-Hua Chin
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May-Chiun Lo*: Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan – Sarawak, Malaysia
Mohamad Kadim Suaidi: Chancellery, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan – Sarawak, Malaysia
Abang Azlan Mohamad: Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan – Sarawak, Malaysia
Chee-Hua Chin: Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan – Sarawak, Malaysia

The Journal of Social Sciences Research, 2019, vol. 5, issue 11, 1600-1608

Abstract: Ecotourism is referred to sustainable tourism, whereby responsible travel is endorsed, especially in natural areas that emphasize on relaxation. In Malaysia, the richness of natural areas leads ecotourism to become one of the rapidly growing industries within the nation. Thus, there is a need for complete understanding of ecotourism practice in planning, developing, and resources management to ensure sustainability without causing environmental degradation. Over the decades, people are progressively pursuing for reconnection with the nature for pukka natural experiences during their travel. This study intends to identify the impacts of natural resources, accessibility, cultural uniqueness, carrying capacity, and perceived values on tourism destination competitiveness from tourists’ perspectives. A total of 157 respondents had participated in completing the questionnaire. WarpPLS (version 6.0) was applied to assess the developed model based on path modelling followed by bootstrapping. The results revealed that accessibility and cultural uniqueness are positively and significantly correlated to tourism destination competitiveness based on tourists’ perspectives. Surprisingly, natural resources, carrying capacity, and perceived values were observed to be no significant relationship with tourism destination competitiveness. The implications, limitations, and directions for future research are further discussed.

Keywords: Natural resources; Accessibility; Cultural uniqueness; Carrying capacity; Perceived values; Destination competitiveness. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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