The Determinants Of Long And Medium Haul International Tourists’ Length Of Stay In Malaysia

Tourism is becoming an increasingly important contributor to the Malaysia economy. However, it has been acknowledged as a problem that the growth of tourism industry in Malaysia is due to tourist arrivals but not the receipt per arrival. This is because lower average length of stay. Tourists who stay at one destination longer means visit more attractions and generate more businesses for the destination. The theory of planned behaviour was used to understand the determinant factors of tourists’ length of stay in Malaysia. To be exact, this thesis aims to study marketing mix, attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control toward the formation of tourists’ length of stay in Malaysia. It also aims to identify the impact of marketing mix on the formation of attitude and investigate the moderate effects of different age groups and travel distance on these determinants toward the length of stay in Malaysia. Three main hypotheses were outlined. A pilot study with 55 respondents was performed using Stata14.2 software to ensure the validity and reliability of the proposed test model. After the pilot study, the revised questionnaire was used in the final data collection with 384 respondents at five Malaysia International Airports. Descriptive analysis and survival analysis were applied and the thesis findings revealed that the theory of planned behaviour was better in predicting international tourists’ length of stay in Malaysia. The results showed that mediated relationship of marketing mix and attitude was generally much more important than as independent variables toward length of stay. On the other hand, moderated relationship of age and travel distance was also proven and this finding was crucial to destination marketers in term of market segmentation and in designing marketing mix. The theoretical and practical implications of the study were discussed followed by research limitation and future direction

Conceptualizing a research framework for tour operators' motivation and practices in responsible rural tourism development

Sustainability is widely discussed by researchers and also by tourism stakeholders for nearly three decades. This paper reviews the motivations of tour operators and their practices in responsible rural tourism development as well as the challenges and barriers faced. The paper also proposes a conceptual framework based on push and pull forces factors and organizational benefits as motivators to trigger the practice of responsible tourism development amongst tour operators in rural tourism destinations, while minimizing negative environmental, social and economic impacts

Travel confidence reviving tourism industry: is the Vaccination a solution?

Vaccination can play a decisive role in reducing travel risk and rebuilding travel confidence. Previous studies pointed out that travel desires moderate or influence vaccination intention, while this paper extends their studies to investigate the relationships between vaccine trust (VT), travel confidence after vaccination (TC), travel intention (TI) and travel behaviour (TB). The VT, TC, and TI clusters were insignificant towards travel behaviour, indicating that travel confidence triggers travel intention but did not reflect on behaviour. The binomial logit model disclosed that only travel confidence was statistically significant toward travel intention, whereby tourists who were more desirous of travelling would be 5.3 times greater in the high-TC cluster. This paper suggests that vaccination should not serve as the only solution for the early stage of tourism reboot, as vaccination can boost travel confidence but not the tourists’ behaviour.

Tour operator perspectives on responsible tourism practices: a case of Kinabalu National Park, Sabah

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the key motivators triggering tour operators to practise responsible tourism in Kinabalu Park. Design/methodology/approach: Inductive and phenomenological research data were collected via in-depth interviews with 25 tour operators guiding tours in Kinabalu Park, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Findings: The paper uses push and pull motivation theory to explain motivation in practising responsible tourism. The findings show that push factors are more significant to tour operators as compared to pull factors. The key motivation of tour operators to practise responsible tourism is organisational benefits and own initiative (intrinsic) and response demand and market trends (extrinsic). However, the findings show that although tour operators have a positive attitude towards responsible tourism, it does not show in their tour operations of Kinabalu Park. This is because the challenges like lack stakeholders participation and low responsible tourism awareness were negatively affecting to what tour operators would like to do and what actually gets done. Practical implications: Identified motives, practices, issues and challenges are valuable information and to enhance the practices of responsible tourism in Kinabalu Park, Sabah. Originality/value: The paper provides in-depth insight of the motivation to practise responsible tourism from tour operators’ perspectives in Kinabalu Park. The finding is benefiting the implementation of responsible tourism in Kinabalu Par

Comprehending the responsible tourism practices through principles of sustainability: A case of Kinabalu Park

This study initiates a research into the practices of responsible tourism in the UNESCO National Park, a place with high levels of biodiversity and value that is worthy of preservation. The responsible tourism definitions, practices and challenges emerged through an intense scrutiny of textual data, which were collected through in-depth interviews with 25 tour operators and park management. Results indicated that responsibility was constructed around the principles of sustainability, or a reification of, ecological friendliness, economical viability and sociocultural amicability in Kinabalu Park, Sabah. Finally, the paper exemplified three implication practices to boost responsible tourism development in Kinabalu Park and other similar parks

Pemphigoid Gestationis and adverse pregnancy outcomes: A literature review

Pemphigoid gestationis (PG), also known as gestational pemphigoid, as it is specifically associated with a pregnancy event, is among the rare pregnancy-related dermatoses, characterised by the formation of autoantibodies against Bullous Pemphigoid antigens 180 and 230 (BP180 and BP230), causing significant damage to the basement membrane of the skin, resulting in marked pruritus and blisters on the abdomen and extremities. Diagnosis of PG is basically made by the characteristic clinical picture and confirmed by immunofluorescence studies and histopathology of a skin biopsy. Treatment, just as for other autoimmune dermatoses, is achieved by corticosteroids with the risk of relapses in subsequent pregnancies. Fetal growth restriction and pre-maturity are potential fetal complications associated with the disease, hence the recommended combined antenatal care by a dermatologist as well as an obstetrician, however, this disease is unlikely to be a source of significant maternal morbidity or mortality

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy: from an obstetrician point of view

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is the commonest among the specific dermatoses of pregnancy. The disease is characterised by intense pruritus and specifically by elevated bile acid levels and owing to the rarity of data published in this context, the disease carries a great challenge in both diagnosis and management. The disease is associated with significant maternal as well as perinatal adverse effects, hence, this article aims at improving the knowledge of the women’s health careers with the up-to-date and evidence-based, whenever possible, recommendations while managing patients with ICP

Impetigo herpetiformis: a rare pregnancy-specific dermatosis

Impetigo herpetiformis (IH) is a pregnancy-specific dermatosis that is currently considered a form of generalised pustular psoriasis and mainly occurs in late pregnancy during the third trimester. IH presents as erythematous patches and pustules and might have systemic involvement. The disease may be associated with severe maternal, fetal, and neonatal complications. IH treatment is very challenging, however, various therapeutic options are available and effective for disease treatment

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely