Tourism Markets and Marketing in Sarawak,Malaysia

Abstract

A multi-scale approachs is used to analyze issues of markets and marketing with regard to the emerging destination of Sarawak in Malaysia. In particular, an analysis of market profiles and travel patterns reveals marked differences in the demand for tourism in Sarawak and in peninsular Malaysia and suggests different strategies might be needed for marketing the state. Issues of state marketing within a federal system are then explored.     

Tourism crises and island destinations: Experiences in Penang,Malaysia

Crisis management and tourism is attracting increasing attention as an industry practice and subject of academic enquiry, not least in South East Asia which has been affected by a number of severe crises in recent years. However, organisations are not always well prepared and response strategies can be deficient. The paper discusses issues of tourism crisis management with specific reference to the popular Malaysian destination of Penang. Findings are based on qualitative research consisting of semi-structured interviews with industry leaders from assorted sectors. Tourism in Penang emerges as vulnerable to regional and global events which act as a trigger for tourism crises, demanding a response in which various strategies are employed. The destination is also seen to recover fairly quickly from experiences of crises, but a well designed and formulated tourism crisis management plan under the stewardship of the public sector is necessary to mitigate further damage in the future.     

Ecotourists' Perception of Ecotourism Experience in Lower Kinabatangan,Sabah, Malaysia

This paper presents the empirical findings of an exploratory qualitative study which looks at ecotourists' perceptions of ecotourism experiences in Sabah, Malaysia in order to identify the expressive dimensions that describe the quality of their experience. In-depth interviews were conducted with European ecotourists who stayed at two ecolodges in Sukau. Positive and negative experiences were identified from an analysis of the expressive dimensions of their service experience. The findings show that the ecotourists' experience is multidimensional. Respondents place particular emphasis on the ecotourism activities in which they physically engage at the sites and the natural environment in which they are located; their interaction with the site service staff; socialisation with other ecotourists, and the information acquired during the visit. The six expressive dimensions describing the positive experience are consistent with previous research. The study explores understanding of ecotourists' experience in the ecotourism environment – an under-researched area. The paper points out that the evaluation of quality of experience appears to involve both attributes – functional elements that are provided by the service suppliers and affective/emotional elements that are brought about by the ecotourists themselves.     

Halal food,certification and halal tourism: Insights from Malaysia and Singapore

This paper discusses issues of halal food and its role in halal tourism with specific reference to Malaysia and Singapore which have majority and minority Muslim populations respectively. Sections devoted to the halal tourism market and the nature of halal food in general, incorporating matters of regulation, are followed by an account of conditions pertaining to halal food and certification in the two destinations. Attention given to the availability of halal food in tourism promotion of the countries is then considered, revealing a shared interest as well as some differences related to wider circumstances. Finally, directions for further research are suggested.     

Corporate Environmentalism in the Hotel Sector: Evidence of Drivers and Barriers in Penang,Malaysia

The linking of tourism businesses and their environmental impacts may be obscured by tourism's image as a ‘soft’ industry. This may explain why there are few studies of the drivers and barriers involved in corporate environmentalism, particularly within the context of developing countries where tourism is often a major foreign exchange earner. This paper narrows this gap by providing evidence about the drivers of and the barriers to corporate environmentalism in the hotel sector of Penang, Malaysia. Using qualitative data obtained via elite interviewing, document analysis and personal observation, the paper discusses the theoretical drivers of and barriers to corporate environmentalism in the study context. The findings indicate that without the introduction of more and stronger drivers, and without understanding and addressing the underlying barriers, instilling a sense of environmental responsibility in the hotel sector in Malaysia, as in other developing countries, may prove daunting.     

Behind the research beliefs and practices of Asian tourism scholars in Malaysia,Vietnam and Thailand

This article explores the power structures behind the research beliefs and practices of tourism scholars based in three Asian countries, namely Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. More specifically, through qualitative interviews, this study gives voice to a group of Asian tourism scholars to cast light on the historical (colonial/postcolonial) and contemporary (neocolonial) forces influencing their research beliefs and practices. Conceptually, this work mobilises the notions of “intellectual imperialism” and “captive mind”, developed by the Malaysian sociologist Syed Hussein Alatas. Overall, the empirical material supports Alatas on the idea that Asian tourism scholars are influenced by power structures that tend to reiterate Western-centric ideologies. However, an important aspect emerging from the interviews was that regional/national research agendas and the influence of other Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea and China, also play a role in shaping the research beliefs and practices of scholars based in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.     

Museums as narrators: heritage trails in a digital era

ABSTRACT

In today’s tourism industry, merely offering tourists a variety of cultural events is not enough. Fully understanding their desire for an experience is the key. The attraction value increases if tourists can become personally involved and be affected by the narratives involved in place-making. This article examines the connections and cooperation among museums in a region where an important heritage trail is operating. When the old Telemark Canal was active (1892–1990), this enabled important products to be shipped from the upper mountainous areas to the coastal urban region in Telemark County, Norway. Shortly after being closed, the canal was transformed into a heritage trail and tourist attraction through renovation initiatives. Based on a closer examination of two of the attraction clusters along the heritage trail of the canal, we ask whether there is a key narrative that can link the local museums and cultural centres in the canal region. The discussion will consider how the widespread use of the internet has created new options for museums and cultural centres to benefit from neighbouring tourist attractions such as heritage trails.     

Cultural tourism policy in developing regions: The case of Sarawak,Malaysia

There is a need for empirical data that can be used to confirm or disconfirm literature that makes a case for functional linkages between cultural activity, inbound tourism and wider economic activity. This motivates a case-based investigation using Sarawak, a culturally rich state of Malaysia and which is currently trying to diversify and uplift its economy. Using interviews of tourism operators, artists and cultural brokers, visits to art venues and examination of documentary material, the paper identifies Sarawak's cultural and tourism policies, the ways they have been operationalized, and some of the concrete outcomes. The findings are interpreted by parsing Adorno's concepts of significance and function into their normative, representational and material dimensions. Tourism planners, it is found, have exoticized and marginalized local communities at the cost of developing a diversified economy. The policy dilemma extends to policy objects. How can artists relocated to urban areas be enabled to be productive on their own terms, and how can faraway communities lend support to their artists? Solutions might be sought, it is argued, using a participatory approach to cultural tourism planning.     

Experiencing culture in attractions,events and tour settings

This paper develops a measurement scale for cultural experiences across different contexts, including attractions, events and tours, in Hong Kong. Four dimensions of experience (cognitive, conative, affective and novelty) are identified through structural equation modelling. The scale is applied to compare visitor- and context-related influences on the experience and on subsequent behavioural intentions. We find that the conative dimension of experience elicits the highest experience scores from visitors, but affective experiences are more significant in distinguishing between different experience contexts and visitor groups. The strongest experiences were attributed to event contexts, followed by tours, and finally permanent attractions. The experience is also enhanced when various sites are combined by visitors to provide a ‘destination journey’.     

The Chinese travelers to Singapore,Malaysia, and Thailand: A unique Chinese outbound market

The study was designed to examine the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and trip‐related attributes of the outbound Chinese travelers to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand (SMT market) and to compare this particular market with the two groups of Chinese visitors bound for other Asia‐Pacific and outside Asia‐Pacific destinations. The results provide a profile of the SMT Chinese market and identified a number of characteristics and attributes that significantly differentiated the SMT market from the two other markets.     

Start-up Factors for Small and Medium-sized Accommodation Businesses in Sabah,Malaysia: Push and Pull Factors

This article identifies start-up factors for small and medium-sized accommodation (SMSA) businesses. Using the Heider theory, it explains the push and pull factor start-up motives in SMSA businesses. The purpose of this research was to indentify the underlying motivational factors and the primary motivational factors of SMSA operators. This topic was chosen owing to the fact that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role as key drivers of employment and economic growth in most countries, especially in Malaysia. The results show there is a wide range of these start-up factors related to the tradition of business operation, resources, location, market opportunities and the desires of individuals. The findings show that key start-up factors are driven by pull factors – namely, family business, availability and readiness of resources (land, building), market potential and opportunity of accommodation business, strategic location, the influence of friends and family, and profitability. Conversely, the key start-up factors related to push factors that emerged in this study include personal attitude, previous working experience in the accommodation business, personal interest and retirement. The findings provide an insight into the understanding of the start-up factors for small and medium-sized accommodation businesses, and add to the existing literature on start-up factors for small and medium-sized accommodation businesses from pull and push factors. They implicate the growth of small and medium-sized accommodation businesses in Sabah and, subsequently, may affect the SMEs' development policies in accommodation businesses.     

Modeling Tourist Flows to Indonesia and Malaysia

Summary

The purpose of this study was to examine the major factors that influence the flow patterns of tourists from six important tourist-generating countries to Indonesia and Malaysia. The primary determinants included in the demand models were income, prices, and time trend. Two models that employed different indicators for the price variable were estimated; one with exchange rates in addition to relative prices, whereas the other included only an exchange rate adjusted-relative price variable. Annual time-series data covering the period 1980 to 1997 were used for estimation. The results generally indicated that the factors provide reasonably good explanations for the demand for Indonesian and Malaysian tourism. The measure of thejoint effect of the changes in exchange rates and relative prices also seems to be a better indicator for the price variable for both destination countries. The study has important marketing implications for the tourism industries in Indonesia and Malaysia.     

Educational tourism and its implications on economic growth in Malaysia

The effect of educational tourism on Malaysia’s economic growth is examined in this study by extending the Solow growth model. This study uses the sample from 2002:Q1 to 2014:Q4. The newly developed Bayer–Hanck combined tests for cointegration and the Granger causality test were employed to examine the long-run and causal relationships among the variables. The empirical findings suggest that economic growth, educational tourism, and other determinants are cointegrated. Educational tourism has a bi-directional causal relationship with economic growth in the short-run but there is a uni-directional Granger causality runs from educational tourism to economic growth. This study provides an essential insight for Malaysia to create policies that promote educational tourism, thereby encouraging economic growth in the long-run.     

Global culture,local politics

A number of local authorities have, in the last ten years, built or subsidized venues for rock and pop concerts. Previously, such ventures were left to the private sector. This article explores the reasons for this local state involvement, and draws attention to its importance for the study of leisure in general, and popular music in particular. It argues that local authorities have moved into popular music provision to meet new political and economic goals, but that such moves can only be explained fully by changes in popular culture itself. Accounting for direct political support of ‘commercial’ entertainment highlights a key fact about leisure: that its politics are located in both its organization and its enjoyment.