Rural Tourism Development in Cameron Highlands: Indigenous Community’s Perception towards Socio-Cultural and Economic Impacts

Abstract

The development of tourism industry in Cameron Highlands has brought impacts directly or indirectly to the local community in general, including the minority group of indigenous people. The production of tourism and its operations are largely monopolized by the private entities. Such practices are highly focused on mass tourism, adventure tourism, and ‘greenwashed’ ecotourism, with many having detrimental environmental and local community consequences. The main purpose of the study is to analyse the indigenous community’s perception on socio-cultural and economic impacts as a result of rural tourism development in Cameron Highlands. The research employed quantitative analysis using the stratified random sampling method in the village of Sungai Ruil and Sungai Chohong indigenous community. A total of 270 respondents were involved. Research findings showed that the development of the tourism industry has created positive impacts on these two aspects for the indigenous communities in Sungai Ruil and Sungai Chohong. The results however revealed that in comparison, the socio-cultural impacts are greater than the economic impacts. This research will educate the responsible firms on the socio-economic impacts of rural tourism development towards the indigenous community and the sustainability of these indigenous culture.