RESPONSIBLE TOURISM AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG THE LOCAL COMMUNITY IN CAMERON HIGHLANDS

Abstract

The primary objective of the research is to examine at the relation between responsible tourism and community quality of life. A questionnaire survey was carried out to gather responses from a sample of 322 locals from the Malaysian Cameron Highlands' Ulu Telum, Tanah Rata, and Ringlet subdistricts. The data analysis revealed that there was no correlation between the quality of life in the local community and any of the four pillars of responsible tourism (economic, environmental, social, and cultural). Although tourism has an impact on locals' quality of life in tourist destinations, it can only measure residents' opinions and not their actual experiences. Or, to put it another way, it may not be appropriate to assess locals' quality of life using indices of tourist impacts. According to the findings of this study, the components of responsible tourism may only partially represent the quality of life among local communities affected by tourism in a host community. The results of this study suggest that the elements of responsible tourism might need to accurately reflect the quality of life of the local communities impacted by tourism in a host community.