Nature and community-based tourism (CBT) for poverty alleviation: a case study of Lower Kinabatangan, East Malaysia
Ecological tourism is intimately associated with natural features such as scenic beauty, beaches and marine areas, flora and fauna, parks and conservation areas. Increasingly, this tourism is organized to help in the cause of rural poverty alleviation through community-based initiatives. This stud...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM,Bangi
2015
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9223/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9223/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9223/1/5xx.geografia-mac15-HongchingGoh-edam.pdf |
| Summary: | Ecological tourism is intimately associated with natural features such as scenic beauty, beaches and marine areas,
flora and fauna, parks and conservation areas. Increasingly, this tourism is organized to help in the cause of rural
poverty alleviation through community-based initiatives. This study illustrates this CBT trend in East Malaysia.
Data were collected from field interviews with 208 villagers of Kampung Perpaduan, Kampung Batu Puteh,
Kampung Mengaris and Kampung Singgah Mata involved in ecological tourism activities in Batu Puteh, Lower
Kinabatangan River of Sabah. The findings of the paper reaffirmed the rationales for community-based tourism
which not only aimed at poverty alleviation and enhancement of local community participation, but also underlined
the role of the natural environment in community based tourism (CBT). They revealed how the holistic, sustainable
approach of integrating a rural development project with forest conservation efforts and profit-oriented tourism
business could be achieved by working with multiple stakeholders at various levels of operation. |
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