Local Community’s Participation and Empowerment Level Towards Sustainable Heritage Tourism in Taiping, Malaysia
Mustafa Abd Aziz1, Shazali Johari2, Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran3
1Mustafa Abd Aziz, Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
2Shazali Johari, Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
3Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran, School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events, Taylor”s University Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
Manuscript received on 04 February 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 17 February 2019 | Manuscript Published on 19 February 2019 | PP: 37-40 | Volume-7 Issue-5S January 2019 | Retrieval Number: ES2122017519/19©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: The aim of this study is to holistically understand the role of community participation and resources in influencing the sustainable heritage tourism practice of the Taiping local community in Malaysia. Descriptive statistics used as the indicator of community participation and empowerment towards sustainable tourism practice. Overall, participation and empowerment levels were at a higher level. Although there is good level of participation, the empowerment level is not very high. This is most likely because of majority of the respondents were not involved in tourism and they were not empowered in tourism planning. The infrastructure development in Perak is still in infancy stage. Since Taiping is the second largest city in Perak, it is suggested that a public transport hub should be developed in Taiping so that it is easily accessed by tourists. Therefore, tourism stakeholders should work closely to promote Taiping as a tourist destination.
Keywords: Heritage Tourism, Community Resources, Malaysia.
Scope of the Article: Community Information Systems