Assessing community-based tourism in Kampung Luanti Baru and Kampung Kuantan using social network analysis

Tourism is one of the largest industries creating job opportunities in national and regional economies. It is one of the most effective drivers for the development of both developed and emerging country. However, there are several issues facing the industry that affect its contribution to sustainable development. The increasing tourist arrivals and the overexploitation of natural resources endanger the very existence of the tourism industry. The realization of the damaging effects of tourism leads governments to approach the concept of sustainable development in tourism. The general objective of this study is to investigate relevant stakeholders and their contributions in the performance of community based tourism (CBT) initiatives. This aim is addressed by the following specific objectives: (i) To understand the attitude and interest of stakeholders in CBT sites, (ii) To determine the most influential stakeholders at the CBT sites. and (iii) To identify important characteristics determining the success and failure of CBT. This study will educate stakeholders in deciding how their action and management are fulfilling their responsibility to the community. To date, empirical analyses of network characteristics in CBT are still limited; hence this investigation can contribute towards improving the performance of this industry. This study employs the social network analysis (SNA) using both primary and secondary data to assess the implementation of CBT in the country. The social relations of the stakeholders are the foundations for the knowledge sharing network. The SNA is conducted using the UCINET software. Two CBT sites were selected: (i) Kampung Luanti Baru in Sabah and (ii) Kampung Kuantan, Selangor. The SNA identified two separate networks in both study villages. Among the two study sites, it was found that Kampung Luanti Baru has an overall better social network than Kampung Kuantan. This happened because of the practice of bottom up management approach in Kampung Luanti Baru as against the top down management approach adopted in Kampung Kuantan. The network in Kampung Luanti Baru is also better because of the higher involvement of the stakeholders. For factor analysis at both study sites, the finding found that there are six significant factors in Kampung Luanti Baru and Kampung Kuantan. The six factors that been found by factor analysis in Kampung Luanti Baru is labelled as: Economic Development, Local Community Benefits, Quality of Environment, Social and Cultural, Tourist Behavior and Endangered Species Conservation. The six factors been found by factor analysis in Kampung Kuantan is labelled as: Quality of Environment, Economic Development, Community Benefits, Social and Cultural, Tourist Behavior and, State and Local Services Among the policy recommendations obtained from this study that can improved the performance of CBT in the country include: (i) Improve the facilities and Infrastructure within the community (ii)National workshop need to be held to create awareness about Community Based Tourism Program and (iii) The needs of a training program for the stakeholders involve to give them more exposure to the community based tourism initiative. This study can be improved by combining the social network theory with other relevant theories. This study relies on social capital of stakeholders which could be integrated with the game theory or transactions cost theory to explain patterns of syndication in the CBT network