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Sustainable Rural Tourism Practices from the Local Tourism Stakeholders' Perspectives

Purpose: The paper presents empirical evidence of sustainable practices adopted by rural tourism stakeholders. It explores the concept and meaning of sustainable practices and what motivates rural tourism stakeholders to adopt sustainable tourism practices as well as recommendations to enhance susta...

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Main Author: Kim, Jennifer Lian Chan
Format: Article
Language:English
English
Published: People and Global Business Association 2023
Subjects:
G154.9-155.8 Travel and state. Tourism
HC10-1085 Economic history and conditions
Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/37519/1/ABSTRACT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/37519/2/FULL%20TEXT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/37519/
https://doi.org/10.17549/gbfr.2023.28.3.136
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spelling my.ums.eprints.375192023-10-16T01:59:19Z https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/37519/ Sustainable Rural Tourism Practices from the Local Tourism Stakeholders' Perspectives Kim, Jennifer Lian Chan G154.9-155.8 Travel and state. Tourism HC10-1085 Economic history and conditions Purpose: The paper presents empirical evidence of sustainable practices adopted by rural tourism stakeholders. It explores the concept and meaning of sustainable practices and what motivates rural tourism stakeholders to adopt sustainable tourism practices as well as recommendations to enhance sustainable rural tourism practices. Design/methodology/approach: This paper describes an exploratory qualitative research project designed to investigate sustainable tourism practices of the rural tourism stakeholders. An inductive approach was adopted to address the research objectives. Specifically, this paper focuses on individuals' subjectivity and understanding of sustainable tourism practices in terms of meaning, motivations, and areas of improvement. The respondents' opinions were collected through semi-structured interviews. A total of 29 rural tourism operators participated in the data collection from the two rural tourism associations in Sabah, Malaysia. The data collection was held at Kota Marudu and Kuala Penyu from April to May 2022. Findings: The findings revealed that sustainable tourism practices relate to conservation and preservation, economic benefits, collaboration and protection, environmental impact, future growth, awareness, knowledge, and improvement. Interestingly, the meaning of sustainable tourism practices is strongly connected to the term "fairness," to competitive products and quality attractions, and to meeting tourists' needs. This implies the meaning of sustainable tourism practices is not limited to economic, environmental, and sociocultural impacts; it also relates to quality tourism products and the needs of tourists. Key drivers for sustainability practices include economic, social, environmental, and government support. Relevant approaches for improving sustainable rural tourism practices include greater participation and collaboration among rural tourism operators, conservation and preservation, destination uniqueness, long-term growth, and 3Rs practices (reduce, reuse, and recycle). Research limitations/implications: Findings implicate sustainable rural tourism destination management and the rural tourism stakeholders to adopt and enhance the sustainability of the rural sites and destination. It also extends the scope of existing literature on the meaning, motivation and sustainability practices of rural tourist destinations. Originality/value: This study focuses on the importance of sustainability in rural tourism in Sabah, Malaysia, an area on which limited empirical research has been done. The study provides an in-depth understanding of the meaning and drivers of sustainable practices from the rural tourism operators' perspectives. Additionally, it proposes sound strategies for sustainable rural tourism practices. Such practices and development are attributed to an individual's understanding of the concept of and motives for adopting sustainable development practices, government support, and core infrastructure. Finally, this study offers practical implications for sustainable development of rural tourism. People and Global Business Association 2023 Article NonPeerReviewed text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/37519/1/ABSTRACT.pdf text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/37519/2/FULL%20TEXT.pdf Kim, Jennifer Lian Chan (2023) Sustainable Rural Tourism Practices from the Local Tourism Stakeholders' Perspectives. Global Business & Finance Review, 28. pp. 136-149. ISSN 1088-6931 https://doi.org/10.17549/gbfr.2023.28.3.136
institution Universiti Malaysia Sabah
building UMS Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sabah
content_source UMS Institutional Repository
url_provider http://eprints.ums.edu.my/
language English
English
topic G154.9-155.8 Travel and state. Tourism
HC10-1085 Economic history and conditions
spellingShingle G154.9-155.8 Travel and state. Tourism
HC10-1085 Economic history and conditions
Kim, Jennifer Lian Chan
Sustainable Rural Tourism Practices from the Local Tourism Stakeholders' Perspectives
description Purpose: The paper presents empirical evidence of sustainable practices adopted by rural tourism stakeholders. It explores the concept and meaning of sustainable practices and what motivates rural tourism stakeholders to adopt sustainable tourism practices as well as recommendations to enhance sustainable rural tourism practices. Design/methodology/approach: This paper describes an exploratory qualitative research project designed to investigate sustainable tourism practices of the rural tourism stakeholders. An inductive approach was adopted to address the research objectives. Specifically, this paper focuses on individuals' subjectivity and understanding of sustainable tourism practices in terms of meaning, motivations, and areas of improvement. The respondents' opinions were collected through semi-structured interviews. A total of 29 rural tourism operators participated in the data collection from the two rural tourism associations in Sabah, Malaysia. The data collection was held at Kota Marudu and Kuala Penyu from April to May 2022. Findings: The findings revealed that sustainable tourism practices relate to conservation and preservation, economic benefits, collaboration and protection, environmental impact, future growth, awareness, knowledge, and improvement. Interestingly, the meaning of sustainable tourism practices is strongly connected to the term "fairness," to competitive products and quality attractions, and to meeting tourists' needs. This implies the meaning of sustainable tourism practices is not limited to economic, environmental, and sociocultural impacts; it also relates to quality tourism products and the needs of tourists. Key drivers for sustainability practices include economic, social, environmental, and government support. Relevant approaches for improving sustainable rural tourism practices include greater participation and collaboration among rural tourism operators, conservation and preservation, destination uniqueness, long-term growth, and 3Rs practices (reduce, reuse, and recycle). Research limitations/implications: Findings implicate sustainable rural tourism destination management and the rural tourism stakeholders to adopt and enhance the sustainability of the rural sites and destination. It also extends the scope of existing literature on the meaning, motivation and sustainability practices of rural tourist destinations. Originality/value: This study focuses on the importance of sustainability in rural tourism in Sabah, Malaysia, an area on which limited empirical research has been done. The study provides an in-depth understanding of the meaning and drivers of sustainable practices from the rural tourism operators' perspectives. Additionally, it proposes sound strategies for sustainable rural tourism practices. Such practices and development are attributed to an individual's understanding of the concept of and motives for adopting sustainable development practices, government support, and core infrastructure. Finally, this study offers practical implications for sustainable development of rural tourism.
format Article
author Kim, Jennifer Lian Chan
author_facet Kim, Jennifer Lian Chan
author_sort Kim, Jennifer Lian Chan
title Sustainable Rural Tourism Practices from the Local Tourism Stakeholders' Perspectives
title_short Sustainable Rural Tourism Practices from the Local Tourism Stakeholders' Perspectives
title_full Sustainable Rural Tourism Practices from the Local Tourism Stakeholders' Perspectives
title_fullStr Sustainable Rural Tourism Practices from the Local Tourism Stakeholders' Perspectives
title_full_unstemmed Sustainable Rural Tourism Practices from the Local Tourism Stakeholders' Perspectives
title_sort sustainable rural tourism practices from the local tourism stakeholders' perspectives
publisher People and Global Business Association
publishDate 2023
url https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/37519/1/ABSTRACT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/37519/2/FULL%20TEXT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/37519/
https://doi.org/10.17549/gbfr.2023.28.3.136
_version_ 1781705923252715520
score 13.211869

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