Factors influencing community participation in Community-Based Ecotourism in Padawan, Sarawak

Abstract

Community Based Ecotourism (CBE) has commonly practiced by the rural communities of Sarawak as poverty alleviation and local empowerment tool in conserving the natural resources in their livelihood. The community participation in the rural areas of Sarawak is essential in CBE sustainability. This study investigates the community participation in Community Based Ecotourism in Padawan, Sarawak. This study only applied for six selected villages in Kampung Sadir, Kampung Giam Danu, Kampung Annah Rais, Kampung Semadang and Kampung Benuk. These six villages are among the villages in Padawan that have ecotourism potential and availability. The application of the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) used to analyse the categories of contributing factors towards the community participation in CBE. Their CBE activities included Tourist Centre/Guide, homestays, heritage festivals and outdoor activities. The method used to accomplish this study is snowball sampling techniques to recruit the participants to be involved in focus group interviews. For this study, the Village Chiefs were requested to select the suitable participants (ecotourism business providers, village committee and common villagers) to participate in focus group interview. Throughout the focus group interview, the participants were required to discuss on the issues or factors influencing their participation in CBE. The findings reveal the factors that affecting motivation, opportunity and ability (MOA) of the community in involving in CBE.