Perception Of Visitors On The Impact Of Conservation And Tourism In Kinabalu Park, Sabah
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Date
2018-09
Authors
Nadiatul Sarah Muhammad Rais
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Kinabalu Park is a protected area and one of the must go destinations when visiting
Sabah due to the beautiful mountainous landscape, various types of ecosystem and the
high endemic species of flora and fauna. As Kinabalu Park has already been opened to
public for more than 50 years, the tourism activities are also getting busier since.
Subsequently, tourism does gives impact to the environment of the park. Perception of
visitors are considered a crucial aspect of the country image as each visitor may see the
same level of conservation and tourism impact differently in Kinabalu Park. The visitors’
perceptions of the environmental condition and also visitors’ experiences visiting the park
were studied. In order to collect the data, 400 questionnaires were distributed to the visitors
at Kinabalu Park Headquarters. Based on 383 questionnaires that were returned, the
majority of the respondents were male with 54.6%, the largest age group was 18 to 24
years old with 36.6%, most of the respondents were Malaysian (38.1%) but not from
Sabah with 50.9% of them have completed their diplomas or degree level. The three major
occupation group were students (27.9%), followed by respondents working in
administration department (22.2%) and 12% of the respondents working in management
department. The main purpose for the respondents visited Kinabalu Park was for
sightseeing (38.6%) and more than half of the respondents said that they were satisfied
(58%) with their visit. The rate of overall level of impact in Kinabalu Park was on
“somewhat” level. Using ANOVA, there were significant differences on visitors’ perceptions on environment conditions at Kinablau Park based on socio-demographic
(age, origin and occupation) and travel variable (the purpose of visit).
Description
Keywords
Tourism Industry