Economic Impact of Tourist Expenditure on Tourism Industry in Penang

Dubbed “The Pearl of the Orient,” Penang is a popular tourism destination in Malaysia since the colonial days. The situation has somewhat changed as it is now losing out to other destinations. The local government is aware of the economic contribution of tourism; the contribution composes of (1) direct effect – revenues generated from tourist expenditure and (2) indirect effect – creation of additional output sales and employment for the local community. However, assessing the indirect economic benefit of tourism is difficult. The collection of the following data is not a simple task for researchers: the amount of tourist expenditure that is received and then spent by tourism establishments. This thesis aims to estimate the direct and indirect effects of tourist expenditure on the tourism sector in Penang, The thesis’s findings can provide policy implication to the local government and guidance to other tourism interests for the development of tourism. Most of the published data are not suitable for the analysis of tourism’s economic impact because these data do not segregate the sales of tourism establishments by tourists and local residents. Therefore, two surveys are undertaken: (1) questionnaires are distributed to estimate the tourist respondents’ spending that accrues to the host community. (2) On top of the distribution of questionnaires to selected tourism establishments, observation method is employed to cross-check the estimation of tourist count provided by the tourism establishment respondents. Both quantitative and qualitative data are used to construct two different Input-Output (I-O) tables. I-O model is used to estimate the proportion of sale revenues of each tourism sector – including the accommodation, food, freight, shopping, entertainment, and miscellaneous sectors – that is used for the purchases of primary inputs (such as wages, dividend, profit, imports and taxes) and intermediate inputs. I-O multipliers are computed to measure the indirect effects generated by tourism establishments’ spending within the local economy. However, the total estimates of output sales and input purchases for each I-O sector are rarely equal. Jensen and McGaurr (henceforth J-M) have recommended the use of “reliability quotients” for the dual estimates. Sahal Lahiri (henceforth SL) suggests that analysts determine the reliability quotients endogenously so that the time costs can be reduced. Each quantitative and qualitative I-O table is reconciled by both the J-M and SL methods. The I-O multiplier values produced by quantitative and qualitative data are quite similar. However, the reconciliation methods produce different multiplier values for the same I-O tourism sector. This is because both techniques are using different formulae. Some of the research empirical findings fit nicely into well-known literature and can be summarized under three empirical patterns: (1) the more developed a tourism destination is, the more tourism and supplies firms will be established within the region’s economy. (2) More tourist expenditure can take place within the region’s economy if the local economic structure is diversified. (3) Though seasonality – implying seasonal increase in labour – is much less of a problem in Penang, the domination by many small scale establishments operated by family members also means that not much job opportunities can be created. Consistent with the literature, the low technical coefficient values show that the linkages between tourism sectors are weak because the supply chain practice by tourism service firms is low in nature. Expanding the tourism industry in Penang will increase the tourist expenditure within the region’s economy. Attempts should be made to broaden the area’s tourist attractions and to diversify the tourism businesses. As a result, more tourists may come and may also extend their length of stay and therefore spend more money within the local area. To reduce the dependency on imported goods, the shopping establishments need to introduce more locally produced crafts or souvenirs or agricultural products

Design and fabrication of a novel spinning fluidised bed

Existing vertical spinning fluidised bed (SFB) have several drawbacks, such as non-uniform radial and axial bed fluidisation, feeding and ash accumulation problems. The purpose of this research, therefore is to develop a prototype of the horizontal SFB combustor capable of overcoming these drawbacks. The scopes of the research include engineering design of the prototype, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling and set-up/commissioning of the developed prototype. Under this research, a prototype of the horizontal SFB has been successfully developed and is able to overcome the inherent weakness in vertical SFB. The innovative secondary chamber provides more freeboard for more complete combustion and acts as particulate control device. The prototype is suitable for burning low-density materials (rice husk, fibrous materials), which are difficult to be burnt in conventional fluidised bed by imparting a higher centrifugal force. There is also no limit to the amount of air throughput and combustion is only limited by the kinetics in which each different type of waste burns. Results from the CFD modelling narrowed down the parameters to be tested on the SFB in future experimental works, as well as providing design improvements on the current SFB design. Due to its compactness and versatility in burning a wide range of waste, the SFB prototype has the potential to be utilised as small-scale on-site waste incineration facility and high-efficiency gas burner for high-loading waste gas streams in chemical plants or refineries. The whole system is mountable to a truck and can be transported to waste sources such as rice mills, sawmills, wastewater treatment plants to incinerate waste. The full performance on the developed SFB during combustion of various types of wastes is outside the scope of the current research and therefore, is subjected to future experimental works

Childhood and adolescent asthma: A study of perceptions, management and health-related quality of life measures

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

A Parametric Study of Piled Raft Foundation in Clay Subjected to Concentrated Loading

The use of piled raft foundation in building and infrastructure constructions is increasingly popular because of its effectiveness in reducing overall and differential settlements. Parameters influencing the performance of the piled raft foundation need to be comprehended in order to optimize the design of the piled raft system. Most of the current available literature focused on the piled raft foundation subjected to a uniform distributed load in sandy material.  This parametric study aims to provide insights into the performance of the piled raft foundations subjected to concentrated loading in clay. A series of 2D finite element analyses were performed to investigate the influencing parameters affecting the load distribution and settlement behaviour of the piled raft. The results suggested that increases in both pile length and raft thickness, as well as a decrease in pile spacing would reduce the differential settlement of the piled raft. Comparatively, raft thickness was the most significant controlling parameter affecting the differential settlement. The study also revealed the importance of placing the pile nearer to the location of concentrated load as it would yield a more uniform load distribution, and hence a lower differential settlement

Why the need to triangulate in the study of tourism's economic impact

Over the years, Input-Output (I-O) analysis has been popularly used for measuring the economic impact of tourism; but discussions in the literature of data collection methods have not been as prevalent as the discussions of empirical results and ways of modifying the basic I-O model. Due to its strong attachment to the economic multiplier concept, positivism paradigm has been preferred by researchers for estimating the spin-off effects that arise from the tourist expenditure in a region’s economy. However, quantitative data obtained from tourism establishments and secondary sources may not be accurate - for example, is the tourism establishment proprietors’ estimation of tourist count reliable? This paper suggests the use of triangulation method (including qualitative technique) to cross-check data collected from quantitative technique, so that a researcher can hope to overcome the weakness or intrinsic biases and problems that can emerge from a single-method or single-observer or single-theory study. Overall, the quality of the triangulation’s outcome depends to a great extent on how systematic the researcher is in analyzing qualitative material and his or her ability to justify the role of mixed methods in the research

Natural and Consequence of Tourism Industry’s Susceptibility to Natural Disaster : A Conceptual Framework using Input-Output Model

Tourism business plays an important role in developing a region’s economy. Most of the operators are small businesses and are highly vulnerable to disaster. On top of bearing the direct loss such as personal asset damages, impacted and adjacent communities are concerned of the possibility of losing their jobs and future incomes due to business interruption between the primary and secondary industries. The government’s receipts of tax revenue would be disrupted as well. Despite recognition of indirect losses, the disaster literature’s focus had been on estimating the direct damages to local residents. Literature that studied impacts on the business community tended to focus on those that originated from the disruption in the economic system – such as economic recession rather than environmental disaster. Compared to direct losses, indirect losses are more difficult to estimate because of the complex task in obtaining relevant data to measure the multiplier impact, especially in smaller regions. This study extended the literature by highlighting a way to measure the indirect effects of natural disasters on the tourism and secondary industries and its local and adjoining communities. This study hopefully could contribute to a better understanding – by tourism industry analysts as well as public officials – of the trail of economic effects and its implications of carrying or not to carry-out restoration work

Understanding Emotion-focused and Problem-focused Threat Avoidance Behavior of Ride-sharing Service Users in China: A Focus on the Moderating Effects of Use Context

This study discusses the location-sharing services and safety features provided by China\u27s ride-sharing firm DiDi. It focuses on the customers\u27 response behaviors when dealing with heightening crime risk in relation to car ride-sharing services. To this end, this study introduces use contexts concept based on the perspectives of problem and emotion-focused coping and performs an empirical study on users’ threat avoidance behavior. Surveys are distributed to ride-sharing service users and location-sharing service users who lived in the Guangdong Province. The survey results provide a number of theoretical and practical implications

Bridging the Standard Operating Procedures between Creative Departments Personnel in Shopping Malls

The aim of this paper is to analyze and introduce a new set of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in the creative department in selected Shopping Malls in Kuching, and Kota Samarahan, Sarawak. SOP is a set of written guideline or instruction that can be followed by personnel in a department. SOP acts as a detailed written document that guides employees and ensure the working flow is at its optimum usage. Apart from that, SOP is also executed as a bridge between the employees and their daily job descriptions. Through preliminary research, two main problems have been identified such as creative departments work without implementation of SOP, and the departments in their organizations have inefficient rules and guidelines in delivering their daily routines. By recognizing these challenges, the hypothesis of this research is through the proposed new set of SOP that will give advantage for management team to manage and monitor the creative department more efficiently. Consequently, in this first phase of this theoretical study, a few SOP models and frameworks will be analyzed and explored in terms of the relevancy and significant elements before being adapted as a research outcome

Industrial R&D expenditure: its determinants and propensity of technology transfer of top ten companies in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan

Global research and development (R&D) spending has increased in recent years as the need for new technologies has grown and structural changes in the market have become evident. R&D and its transfer into the commercial sector have an important relationship. This paper analyzes the relationship between industrial R&D expenditure and how it affects technology transfer in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. The research is based on the analysis of secondary data from published annual reports followed by a quantitative analysis of primary data using survey questionnaires. The research finds that the bulk of R&D expenditure was from the top ten organizations and the top five industries for each country. The findings also reveal that an organization’s readiness in terms of technology and people capabilities is still weak in Malaysia and Singapore. The findings also indicate that there is a relationship between industrial R&D expenditure and the propensity of technology transfer in Taiwan