Memorable Ecotourism Experiences in Taman Negara, Pahang
Thanam Subramaniam1, Zaiton Samdin2, Sridar Ramachandran3, Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran4
1Thanam Subramaniam, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), University Putra Malaysia.
2Zaiton Samdin, Faculty of Economic and Management University Putra Malaysia.
3Sridar Ramachandran, Institute of Agricultural and Food Policy Studies University Putra Malaysia.
4Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran, School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events, Taylor‘s University Malaysia.
Manuscript received on 04 February 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 17 February 2019 | Manuscript Published on 19 February 2019 | PP: 25-33 | Volume-7 Issue-5S January 2019 | Retrieval Number: ES2119017519/19©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Memorable Ecotourism Experiences (MEEs) play a key role in obtaining tourists’ satisfaction and loyalty in sustaining the ecotourism destination. Although, MTEs has been recognised as a crucial area of tourism studies since 2010, but still there is a lack of study that explore all dimensions or constructs of MTEs. Most of the recent studies only tested eight significant constructs and ignored the remaining constructs. Therefore, this study aim to examine the dimensions that influences the memorable ecotourism experiences in Taman Negara, Pahang Malaysia. Subsequently, to propose a MEEs model. In order to fill the literature gap, a pilot test was conducted in April 2018 with a sample of 40 tourists to Taman Negara, Pahang, Malaysia. These preliminary results indicated that 15 out of 22 constructs (hedonism, knowledge, meaningfulness, local culture, novelty-familiarity, involvement, refreshing, destination attributes, service, participation, freeing, adverse feeling, socialization, nature and education awareness) were significantly influencing the MEEs in Taman Negara. The study recommends further studies to be conducted to explore all 22 proposed constructs in a variety of ecotourism sector.
Keywords: Ecotourism, Memorable Ecotourism Experiences, Destination Loyalty, Taman Negara.
Scope of the Article: Social Sciences