Sport tourism pursuit: Malaysian women's perspective

Leisure constraints experienced by Malaysian women differed significantly from those experienced by the general population as they have to adhere to cultural tradition to a greater extent than others.This study explored the leisure constraints and negotiation strategies experienced by Malaysian women in creating positive sport tourism pursuits.Besides that it assists in understanding the evolution of leisure In general as research of different cultural backgrounds would greatly enhance the leisure constraints literature.The hierarchical model of leisure constraints developed by Crawford, Jackson, and Godbey (1991) was used as the guiding theoretical base.A self-administered questionnaire was developed for this study.Multistage cluster random sampling with proportion design was used to draw samples and data collected from 636 respondents were analyzed using SPSS-PC.Some of the findings challenge the results of previous leisure studies by revealing that interpersonal constraint was the main component of leisure constraints perceived by Malaysian women in sport tourism participation.It was also identified that cultural constraint plays important role in deciding the levels of sport tourism participation among Malaysian women.Findings do, however, support previous researches that unavailability of time, lack of transport, ignorant about availability of leisure activities, lack of funds, and lack of convenient facilities are commonly perceived by Malaysian women in sport tourism pursuit.A combination of interpersonal coordination, skill acquisition, financial resources, and time management strategies place some Malaysian women in a better position to negotiate leisure constraints in sport tourism with majority adopting interpersonal coordination strategies.As sport tourism is capable of rejuvenating other sectors of the economy, this study could guide sport tourism operators in formulating strategies to enhance competitiveness on the multiracial markets