Introducing Shariah compliant hotels as a new tourism product: the case of Malaysia

This paper is concerned with the concept of Shariah compliant hotels which are introduced to attract a growing Muslim travelers market. Major attributes of Shariah compliant hotels are investigated based on the available literature and secondary data. The concept of Shariah compliant hotels should be clearly defined and it is suggested that the relevant stakeholders to play important roles in contributing to the understanding of such concept. The idea of setting up of Shariah compliant hotel is very interesting indeed considering the growing population of Muslim travelers. In the case of Malaysia, the concept of Shariah compliant hotel is yet to be explored and warranted further investigation. It is recommended that the setting up of Shariah compliant hotels to be promoted aggressively to stimulate the tourism industry which may be cater to the growing Islamic market especially from the Middle East region

The usage of internet technology for marketing: Perspectives from local entrepreneurs of the small and medium hotel organizations in Langkawi

Small and medium hotel organizations (SMHOs) are recognized as one of the major businesses in the tourism industry. They usually provide employment benefits to the host community, expand local economy and therefore very important to accommodate tourism demand. Taking example of SMHOs run by local entrepreneurs in Langkawi, this paper proposed that the internet is one of the most important tools for these organizations to market their products and services to a global market. It explored the perceptions of local entrepreneurs in Langkawi about utilizing the internet and analyzed the impact of this technology to their marketing strategy. This paper also highlights that internet technology provide a wide range of benefits to the entrepreneurs in terms of distributing information, establishing customers' relationship program and competing against big hotel companies. In the case of Langkawi, it was evident that the local entrepreneurs did not utilize the internet to its fullest potential and they were still adapting to this new technology as part of their marketing tool. By employing a qualitative method and using face-to-face semistructured interviews as a form of data collection, SMHOs operators were interviewed to examine the function of the internet for their organizations. The findings indicated that factors such as lack of IT's skill and limited financial resources were some of the issues that might slow down the progress of internet usage among SMHOs on the Island

The evolvement of brand identity of Langkawi Island, Malaysia

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the brand identity development efforts of Langkawi Island as one of the most prominent and well-guarded tourism destinations in Malaysia. It will be viewed from the historical perspectives for the last 35 years since 1980s until the present time as to how this involvement influences the formation of its brand identity and later, existing destination image. Based on in depth interviews with 11 different levels of managers of separate divisions for destination management organizations (DMOs) in Langkawi Island, Malaysia, theoretically, the findings provide an opportunity to expand the knowledge of destination brand identity development and the involvement of DMOs in influencing image making over time. Practically, the findings indicate three key important antecedents of brand identity development efforts related to (1) the effects from multiple positioning themes and slogans, (2) lack of brand coordination, and (3) brand leadership issue. These empirical findings provide new insights into enhancing the theoretical aspect of managing a destination brand, including its close relationship with issues faced by destination marketing organizations in dealing with various stakeholders involved. Thus, using the case study of Langkawi Island, the context of multiple identities or image fragmentation is important to be understood due to the different perceived ideas on how the image should be projected according to stakeholders and market segmentation

Assessing email responsiveness: The case of hotels in Malaysia

The advancement of Information Technology (IT) has given tremendous effects on hotel industry.IT has been perceived as the competitive weapon to survive in the intense competition in the hotels business. As a result, in 2003, 63% of hotels listed by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism of Malaysia provided their e-mail as a medium of communication for its online patrons.Despite the successful technology initiation among hotels in Malaysia, the effectiveness of implementation of technology in relation to customer service still remains unknown.Do these hoteliers responsively reply the customer e-mail? The aim of the study is to investigate the quality aspect of the online customer service in Malaysian hotel industry. In 2004, 200 hotels with the e-mail addresses were sent a typical room query and their responses were recorded to examine their e-mail quality.Even though, the hotels performed well for each quality variable, the overall finding showed that the chance that a guest would receive a quality reply was only at 12 out of 200 or 6%.Practical and theoretical contributions are also discussed in this paper

Branding Langkawi island as a geopark destination

The objective of this study is to examine the issues and challenges of making a geopark status as a destination brand to promote sustainable tourism. It briefly describes the process of obtaining geopark status based on the experience with Langkawi Island, Malaysia which was designated in 2007. 35 individuals were interviewed representing various important stakeholders such as different level of managers of a development authority, National Tourism Organization, tourism operators and local community concerning their expectations, government initiatives, and acceptance towards promoting Langkawi Geopark as a brand. The findings indicate that most of the stakeholders support and accept the Langkawi Geopark as a global brand that recognised by UNESCO. However, most of them are still confused about the Geopark concept in terms of its implementations and the actions needed to protect the brand. More concerted efforts are needed to create the Geopark brand awareness especially among local community and business operators. It is necessary to educate these stakeholders about the benefits of having the geopark status in order to use the brand to promote sustainable tourism development on the island

Determination of phenolic compounds in aqueous extract of cassava shoots and banana hearts using Total Phenolic Content (TPC) method / Eddy Mohd Fadil Yusof

"Ulam" is a group of vegetables that is consumed fresh as salad or slightly blanched or steam which have medicinal properties, lowering the incidence of cancer, and control ageing. Cassava shoots and banana hearts are examples of "ulam" that need to be blanched first before they can be consumed. This project was carried out to determine the total phenolic content in each blanched cassava shoots and banana hearts. Gallic acid was used as the standards thus the total phenolic content was expressed as mg GAE/g fresh sample. The selected blanching time for cassava shoots were 10, 15, and 20 minutes and the total phenolic content were 0.690 ± 0.005 mg GAE/g fresh sample, 0.598 ± 0.019 mg GAE/g fresh sample, and 0.576 ± 0.010 mg GAE/g fresh sample respectively. As for banana hearts, the selected blanching time were 20, 30, and 40 minutes and the total phenolic content were 0.499 ± 0.016 mg GAE/g fresh sample, 0.422 ± 0.014 mg GAE/g fresh sample, and 0.345 ± 0.010 mg GAE/g fresh sample respectively. By comparing total phenolic in both samples, it was founded that blanched cassava shoots contained more phenolic content. Since antioxidants were phenolic compounds and total phenolic content was determined in each sample, the optimal blanching time for optimal antioxidants get consumed can be estimated. Thus, optimal blanching time for cassava shoots and banana hearts was found to be 10 minutes and 20 minutes respectively

Pengurusan kemudahan sukan dan rekreasi satu tinjauan di hotel dan resort kawasan peranginan pantai wilayah utara Semenanjung Malaysia

Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk meninjau tentang amalan pengurusan kemudahan sukan dan rekreasi di hotel dan resort kawasan peranginan pantai.Di samping itu, kajian ini juga bertujuan menilai tahap kepuasan hati pelanggan terhadap kualiti perkhidmatan dalam pengurusan kemudahan sukan dan rekreasi.Seramai 447 pelanggan hotel dan resort dan 10 orang staf/personel bahagian sukan dan rekreasi telah dipilih sebagai responden kajian.Kaedah soal selidik, temu bual dan pemerhatian digunakan untuk mengumpul data kajian, dan statistik deskripktif, ujian-t serta analisis kandungan teks telah digunakan untuk menganalisis data.Hasil kajian ini mendapati bahawa secara umumnya, kebanyakan hotel dan resort menyediakan kemudahan dan peralatan sukan dan rekreasi yang mencukupi dan dalam keadaan yang masih boleh digunakan.Begitu juga halnya dengan aktiviti/program yang ditawarkan adalah meliputi program/aktiviti sukan dan rekreasi di air dan di darat.Pihak pengurusan hotel dan resort juga mengambil berat terhadap kepuasan pelanggan dengan memastikan kemudahan dan peralatan yang disediakan diselenggara dengan baik di samping menyediakan staf/personel untuk mengawasi dan mengendalikan program/aktiviti.Selain itu, kajian ini juga mendapati bahawa hampir kesemua hotel dan resort yang dikaji menjalankan kegiatan pemasaran dan promosi terhadap kemudahan sukan dan rekreasi menerusi surat khabar, brosur, poster, risalah dan internet.Dalam pada itu, hasil kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa tahap kepuasan responden terhadap aspek-aspek kualiti perkhidmatan dalam pengurusan kemudahan sukan dan rekreasi di hotel dan resort dikaji adalah pada tahap yang baik. Walau bagaimanapun, kajian ini mendapati bahawa responden perempuan dan luar negara adalah lebih tinggi tahap kepuasan berbanding dengan responden lelaki dan dalam negara terhadap aspek-aspek kualiti perkhidmatan yang dikaji.Begitu juga halnya, hasil kajian ini memperlihatkan bahawa tahap kepuasan yang lebih tinggi dalam kalangan responden perempuan dan luar negara terhadap keseluruhan kemudahan fizikal, program/aktiviti dan perkhidmatan dalam sukan dan rekreasi yang disediakan di hotel dan resort berkenaan berbanding dengan responden lelaki dan dalam negara.Dengan itu, berdasarkan hasil kajian ini beberapa implikasi dan cadangan kajian telah dibincangkan

PLACE ATTACHMENT, HOST TOURISTS’ INTERACTION AND RESIDENT WELCOMING ATTITUDE: A POST COVID-19 ASSESSMENT TOWARDS TOURISM RECOVERY IN LANGKAWI, MALAYSIA

The most recent COVID-19 pandemic has posed a risk to the world economy that has never been seen before. Therefore, the welcoming attitude of the residents in tourist destinations has become a concern for post-COVID-19 tourism recovery. There seem to be many issues concerning the interactions of hosts and tourists as Covid-19 fear exists. Thus, this study aims to examine the role of place attachment and host tourists' attractions on the welcoming attitude of the residents in Langkawi, Malaysia. The researchers conducted a quantitative method and cross-sectional approach in this study. Researchers distributed 600 questionnaires to the respondents in Langkawi, Malaysia, and 461 usable questionnaires were returned and proceeded for further analysis. This study used structural equation modelling to use Smart PLS version 3 software. In structural equation modelling, the measurement and structural model of the study were reported. The study found that place attachment and host tourists interaction play a significant role in maximizing residents' welcoming attitude. The practitioners and academicians will be benefited from the outcome study while exploring tourism recovery strategies and post-Covid tourist arrival

A note on the influence of household behavior on the generation of municipal solid waste in Johor Bahru Tengah

This note presents results of a study involving 885 residents in Johor Bahru area. The average solid waste generated per household was 1.93 kg per day. Several behavioral factors were found to be influencing the amounts of solid wastes generation. Based on multiple regression analysis, the significant explanatory variables are lifestyle and eating habit, housing characteristics such as length of stay in a particular home, marital status, and the family size. The R2 is 0.4. Surprisingly, income level has no significant effect on the solid waste generation in the study area