Capacity And Attitude Of Host Community Towards Negative Environmental Impacts Of Tourism In Langkawi Island, Malaysia

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Date
2016-02
Authors
Haftkhani, Sharareh Khosravi
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Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Limited attention to the concept of community capacity in the tourism literature and lack of consideration regarding the role of community capacity as an essential prerequisite of sustainable tourism development created some difficulties in host destinations, particularly in developing areas. This research dwelt upon the premise that a community with higher capacity in conserving natural environment may express better attitude toward negative environmental impacts of tourism, which in turn, help tourism to directly maintain development process and reduce creation of negative environmental impacts. This study used five dimensions of community capacity for conserving natural environment, namely; shared vision, sense of community, participation, knowledge and skills, and lifelong learning, as major predictors of attitude toward negative environmental impacts of tourism. The conceptual framework was empirically tested to investigate the relationship between community capacity and attitude toward negative environmental impacts of tourism. Survey questionnaires were used as an administered tool for data collection. The sample for this study was proportionally stratified among the local residentsā€˜ populations with tourism-related jobs in the six residential districts in Langkawi Island, as the study site. The questionnaires were distributed in Langkawi Island from 14 to 23 June 2014. A total of 403 responses were obtained. Subsequently, frequency analysis was used to attain the demographic information of respondents and obtain the current level of community capacity in conserving natural environment. Partial Least Square (PLS) version 2.0 was employed to test the hypothesis. Results showed that the level of community capacity in conserving natural environment is not satisfactory which indicates an urgent need of building community capacity for further tourism development in Langkawi Island. It was also found that shared vision, sense of community, participation, knowledge and skills, and lifelong learning, were important determinants of host community attitudes toward negative environmental impacts of tourism.
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Tourism
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