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
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
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.
Description
Keywords
Tourism