Tourism, Leisure and Global Change 

About: Tourism, Leisure and Global Change is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Tourism & Cultural heritage. It has an ISSN identifier of 2312-0630. Over the lifetime, 105 publications have been published receiving 257 citations.

The role of tourist guides and their impacts on sustainable tourism development: A critique on Sri Lanka

Abstract: Tourism is a multidisciplinary industry and therefore involves many different stakeholders for its operational activities. An essential element for sustainable tourism development in any tourist destination is the participation of active stakeholders and their collaborations. Among them the tourist guides play a major role in the tourism industry since tourists need to have a clear picture of the country and its offerings, laws, rules and regulations and other expected behavioural patterns. Moreover, guides should have the ability to transform the tourist visit into an unforgettable experience. In addition to the quality and ability of tourist guides, there are many problems and issues associated with their services that can impact on the ultimate satisfaction of the tourists. Therefore, the primary objective of this research is to recognize the impact of tourist guides in moving tourism development in a sustainable direction. Additionally, the study investigates the problems and difficulties faced by tourist guides while serving in the industry and its effect on tourists' satisfaction. The study was conducted using the mixed methodology and collected data from different sources such as questionnaire survey with tourists, semi-structured interviews and discussions with tourist guides and the different stakeholders and personal observations. Additionally, tourists’ comments posted on the TripAdvisor web page were reviewed to acquire a comprehensive understanding about the issue, from the tourists’ perspective. It was revealed that tourist guides contend with multiple issues and problems including unfair competition from unlicensed tourist guides, less respect and recognition from the society and trade, low remuneration, lack of job security, poor and unfriendly working conditions while performing their duties and responsibilities. Also, many tourist guides have low education and training and, therefore, exhibit a low service quality. Furthermore, the guides’ behaviours may negatively impact on the industry’s sustainability by forcing tourists to buy things or attend activities at their own expenses; relying on cliched introductions to the sights; demonstrating insufficient knowledge about tourism products, services and access routes; not being conversant with foreign languages; charging and demanding tips; harassment of tourists and bad service attitudes.

Local Community Attitudes Towards Tourism Development in Tioman Island

Abstract: Tourism industry has been recognised as the symbol to help the local community especially in changing the economic and atmosphere due to the ability to generate income, employment as well improve the standard of living. The attitudes of the local community can directly affect the development of the tourism industry. Positive attitudes from the local residents not only can help in boosting tourists' satisfaction levels at the same time it contributes to word-of-mouth promotion among international tourist. In order to ensure the success of the tourism planning, the involvement and the participation of the local communities in the area is pertinent. This study endeavours on local community attitudes' toward tourism development in Tioman Island. The findings on this study indicated that the local community who obtained the personal benefit from tourism development will support for future tourism development as well as who perceived the positive impact on the tourism development. However, from the finding revealed that the local community who perceived negative impact from tourism activities also support the tourism development in the future due to the reliance on this sector as their main income. The role of perceived tourism impact as the moderator between the relationship between personal benefit from tourism and the future attitudes from tourism development become the contribution of this study.

Social Entrepreneurship in Ecotourism: An Opportunity for Fishing Village of Sebuyau, Sarawak Borneo

Abstract: This paper discusses literatures pertaining to community engagement in social entrepreneurship with aim to develop a higher institution and community engagement in ecotourism model for Sebuyau village, Sarawak. Sebuyau is a coastal fishing village that lies 70km away from the main city of Kuching, Sarawak. The resident's economic dependence mainly comes from fishing, farming, small businesses and cottage industries products. The paper's discussion is based on three main objectives which are i) to identify the antecedents that contribute to community engagement in social enterpreneurship ii) to propose the instruments in measuring the success of social enterpreneurship project and iii) to identify the supporting system and industries required in complementing social enterpreneurship business, particularly for ecotourism in Sarawak. For data gathering purposes, interview survey has been employed to gain more information on Sebuyau's community background and opportunities for social enterpreneurship business. This include interviews with Sebuyau's Malaysian Fisheries Development Board, Sebuyau District Office, local village enterpreneurs and the village people. The literature findings enables the researcher to design an ecotourism model that allows for knowledge-transfer and ecotourism business development for the village.

Framework for Sustainable Tourism Development on Coastal and Marine Zone Environment

Abstract: Tourism in marine and coastal areas is a complex phenomenon. Tourism in coastal areas brings along both positive and negative effects on the environment as a result of activities exerted upon such areas by proponents and tourists. While tourism development results in the modification of coastal environments, it can also flourish where such environments are left unmodified as the pristine nature of the environments attract visitors. Alternatively, in order for marine and coastal tourism to develop and continue to attract tourists, there is the need for an integrated approach that can be translated into a sustainable coastal tourism development. The aim of this paper therefore, is to postulate and develop a framework and guideline to be addressed by decision-makers for coastal areas. Frameworks for sustainable coastal tourism development and coastal zone management (CZM) are suggested taking into account the multifaceted nature of the coastal environment.

Issues and Challenges in Nurturing Sustainable Rural Tourism Development

Abstract: The majority of the world's population live in underdeveloped rural areas, which are a concern among many people. On one hand disadvantaged rural population inevitably seek regeneration of livelihood and socio-economic empowerment, on the other hand large numbers of natural and manmade resources in rural areas are highly vulnerable to developmental interventions. Hence, ensuring sustainable development in rural areas in conjunction with increasing developmental needs is a predominant challenge. Alongside, tourism has been widely recommended as a development strategy for underdeveloped areas. Emerging alternative tourism approaches are suggested for development in rural areas. This paper aims to elucidate the issues and challenges faced by rural areas in developing alternative tourism with respect to sustainability. The study adopts a content analysis approach, reviewing documented data in either printed or electronic versions. The documents printed with alternative tourism dimension in rural areas, are purposefully selected for the study. The interpretations and findings are elicited from different settings of the rural areas, which are embodied with diverse natural and human elements. The study was able to reveal different issues and challenges, brought forward by previous researchers who deal with different geographical settings of the world. This illuminates the gap between implementation of alternative tourism and reaching the goals of sustainable tourism development in rural areas.