Explaining the problems of tourism in Kundasang, Sabah: the strengths and limitations of the positivist perspective

This paper is basically an attempt to explicate the problematique of tourism in Kundasang (Sabah) from the epistemological standpoint of positivism. The objectives are (i) to present several empirical aspects of the problems besetting the tourism industry in the study area, (ii) to account for tho...

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Main Authors: Ramzah Dambul, Amriah Buang
Format: Article
Language:en
Published: Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM,Bangi 2008
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1604/1/Georafia_4%2C1_%2820-31%29.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1604/
http://www.ukm.my/geografia
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author Ramzah Dambul,
Amriah Buang,
author_facet Ramzah Dambul,
Amriah Buang,
author_sort Ramzah Dambul,
building Tun Sri Lanang Library
collection Institutional Repository
content_provider Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
content_source UKM Journal Article Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
description This paper is basically an attempt to explicate the problematique of tourism in Kundasang (Sabah) from the epistemological standpoint of positivism. The objectives are (i) to present several empirical aspects of the problems besetting the tourism industry in the study area, (ii) to account for those problems or shortcomings from the positivist perspective, and (iii) to show how more meaningful explanations could and should be obtained from epistemological perspectives other than positivism. It is found that the strength of the positivist perspective is in the empirical identification of three main factors that have led to the failure of the tourist industry as a development catalyst for Kundasang, namely the lethargic growth of the urban centre, leakages of incomes from the area, and the low level of positive attitudes and behaviour on the part of the local populace.In contrast, the positivist perspective is found to be unable to frame and answer two fundamental critical questions that underline the problems and failure of the Kundasang tourist industry, viz: (a) why did the investment that flowed into Kundasang fail to generate the economic multiplier and spread effects at the local level?; and (b) why did the significant presence of migrant foreign workers not contribute to the growth of the retail and urban services in Kundasang? The paper concludes that answering such questions necessitates the application of non-positivist epistemologies
format Article
id my-ukm.journal-1604
institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
language en
publishDate 2008
publisher Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM,Bangi
record_format eprints
spelling my-ukm.journal-16042016-12-14T06:29:55Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1604/ Explaining the problems of tourism in Kundasang, Sabah: the strengths and limitations of the positivist perspective Ramzah Dambul, Amriah Buang, This paper is basically an attempt to explicate the problematique of tourism in Kundasang (Sabah) from the epistemological standpoint of positivism. The objectives are (i) to present several empirical aspects of the problems besetting the tourism industry in the study area, (ii) to account for those problems or shortcomings from the positivist perspective, and (iii) to show how more meaningful explanations could and should be obtained from epistemological perspectives other than positivism. It is found that the strength of the positivist perspective is in the empirical identification of three main factors that have led to the failure of the tourist industry as a development catalyst for Kundasang, namely the lethargic growth of the urban centre, leakages of incomes from the area, and the low level of positive attitudes and behaviour on the part of the local populace.In contrast, the positivist perspective is found to be unable to frame and answer two fundamental critical questions that underline the problems and failure of the Kundasang tourist industry, viz: (a) why did the investment that flowed into Kundasang fail to generate the economic multiplier and spread effects at the local level?; and (b) why did the significant presence of migrant foreign workers not contribute to the growth of the retail and urban services in Kundasang? The paper concludes that answering such questions necessitates the application of non-positivist epistemologies Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM,Bangi 2008 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1604/1/Georafia_4%2C1_%2820-31%29.pdf Ramzah Dambul, and Amriah Buang, (2008) Explaining the problems of tourism in Kundasang, Sabah: the strengths and limitations of the positivist perspective. Geografia : Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 4 (1). pp. 20-31. ISSN 2180-2491 http://www.ukm.my/geografia
spellingShingle Ramzah Dambul,
Amriah Buang,
Explaining the problems of tourism in Kundasang, Sabah: the strengths and limitations of the positivist perspective
title Explaining the problems of tourism in Kundasang, Sabah: the strengths and limitations of the positivist perspective
title_full Explaining the problems of tourism in Kundasang, Sabah: the strengths and limitations of the positivist perspective
title_fullStr Explaining the problems of tourism in Kundasang, Sabah: the strengths and limitations of the positivist perspective
title_full_unstemmed Explaining the problems of tourism in Kundasang, Sabah: the strengths and limitations of the positivist perspective
title_short Explaining the problems of tourism in Kundasang, Sabah: the strengths and limitations of the positivist perspective
title_sort explaining the problems of tourism in kundasang, sabah: the strengths and limitations of the positivist perspective
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1604/1/Georafia_4%2C1_%2820-31%29.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1604/
http://www.ukm.my/geografia
url_provider http://journalarticle.ukm.my/