초록 열기/닫기 버튼
One of the key initiatives in the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) is to ‘enhance inclusiveness towards an equitable society’ whereby ‘every Malaysian should be able to participate in and benefit from the country's economic growth’. The focus is to empower and uplift the wellbeing of rural communities. To this end, rural tourism is encouraged. In the first half of 2016, the total income of 3,800 registered rural tourism-based operators nationwide has increased by 9.5 per cent to more than MYR 17 million compared to the same period in 2015. These operators provide 5,354 rooms to 87,580 local and foreign tourists in 2016. This is indeed a great boost to the rural community. Nevertheless, rural tourism in Malaysia has yet to seize the nation’s tourism market potentials in which 31.8 million tourist arrivals and MYR 118 billion receipts are forecasted in 2017. This study applies the motivation model to investigate the travel behaviours and driving forces towards rural destinations in Malaysia. The results reveal that tourist nationality moderates travel behaviour. However, the inverse is true for past experiences. Managerial implications are provided to the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board and industry practitioners to strategically promote rural tourism more effectively. In addition, this investigation helps the rural community operators to identify and capitalise on the attributes that influence tourist destination choice. Consequently, these operators will be able to develop their core competencies for sustainable economic growth.
