Discussing Issues Related To Tourism And Hospitality Management In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Journal Tourism And Management Hospitality

The Safety and Security of Female Tourists in Malaysia

Discuss About The Journal Tourism And Management Hospitality.

Malaysia has emerged as one of the key players in the world of tourism. Tourism is the second highest contributor for the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) right after the manufacturing industry. Although, Malaysia has been quite late to generate profit through tourism however since the 1990s the country has set an example by capitalizing through its tourism industry.  Before the popular Visit Malaysia (VMY) campaign that was a trend during the 1990s, Malaysia was projected as a country for the broader element of tourist circuit. There was an increase in the tourist market by 17. 6 per cent, however it fell during by 13 per cent in the year 1991 (Liu, 2006). It was only after the change in campaign from Beautiful Malaysia to Only Malaysia followed by Fascinating Malaysia and currently, the popular slogan of Malaysia, Truly Asia that the tourism has accelerated in the country. The capital of the country, Kuala Lampur attracted majority of tourists from the SouthEast Asian regions of the country. In Malaysia, the tourism planning sector is quite unique and is influenced by a range of complex factors. Events like Mega Sale Carnival, Malaysia Open House and Citra Warna Carnival have high tourist value and are known for attracting around 100, 000 tourists throughout the year. (Musa 2000). This paper aims to enlist six annotated bibliography that will discuss on the different issues related to the tourism sector in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. The themes of this annotated bibliography will be the central arguments of the article, the way it relates to the idea of Kuala Lampur as a major tourist location and implications of the application of key arguments to the tourism impacts in the location.

This paper by Amir et al. (2015), provides an insightful accounting regarding the plight of female tourists in the tourist hub of Malaysia, Singapore. Safety and security of the tourists play a major factor in attracting tourists to a particular region. Women are more prone to facing the consequences of crimes than the men. This can be attributed to the high risk of facing sexual violence, abuse and sexually coloured remarks from the pedestrians and the locals. Therefore, the position of a woman as a tourist is more vulnerable than a man. In this context, it was found that 99 per cent women identified day-time to be safer and they felt it was secured to walk around the city during this phase of the day whereas the ratio fell to 15 per cent during the nighttime.  Some of the issues of safety identified by the respondent tourists were that there is the issue of road safety, there is the fear of pickpocket and there lies the fear of theft. The methodology adopted for this study was survey and the technique that was pursued to meet the objectives was questionnaire. The paper is well-structured and the arguments are developed in a coherent manner. It highlights the aspect of tourist safety that has a key role in elevating the value of a place. Therefore, this paper can be considered as an important text in deepening our insight about the tourism industry in Kuala Lampur through the lens of woman’s safety that is a largely neglected issue in majority of the literature on tourism. One shortcoming of the paper is that it could have used the qualitative research methodology and adopted in-depth interview to understand the issue in a more refined manner.

The Needs of Muslim Travelers in Kuala Lumpur

(Battour, M., Ismail, M.N. and Battor, M., 2011. The impact of destination attributes on Muslim tourist’s choice. International Journal of tourism research, 13(6), pp.527-540.)

This paper by Battour et al. (2011), is concerned with the needs of the Muslim travellers during the course of travel and emphasizes on the elements that are intrinsic to a Muslim traveller. Data was collected through conducting two Focussed Group Discussion (FGDs) combined with 53 interviews with Muslim tourists who have travelled to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. It was found that there are certain common factors that play an instrumental role in attracting Muslim tourists to their favourite travel spots. A Muslim tourist would look for the facilities of prayer and prefer places that provide them with the option of consuming Halal food. These can be considered as some of the tangible attributes. Apart from these are certain intangible attributes that attract Muslim tourists to a particular destination, this includes Islamic dress code, Islamic entertainment option and affirmation to Islamic codes of morality. It was found that there is a mutual consensus among the Muslim tourists visiting Malaysia regarding the feature of access to prayer, access to Islamic toilets and access t the options of Islamic entertainment. The author argues that the tangible aspects are possible only in the Muslim dominated countries and will b difficult to provide the in the context of westernized countries. In that sense, Malaysia emerges as a prominent destination for the practising Muslims as the country offers both tangible and intangible elements that will sustain the interest of the tourist. This paper is crucial given that Islamic tourism is gaining momentum and it can be used as a marketing strategy to attract more tourists. The merit of the study is that it provides a number of insights and discusses on halal tourism that is an important issue from the aspect of business studies, tourism, sociology and geography. The limitation of the paper is that the sample population is quite small and may not be generalisible to the larger population.

(Battour, M., Battor, M. and Bhatti, M.A., 2014. Islamic attributes of destination: Construct development and measurement validation, and their impact on tourist satisfaction. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(6), pp.556-564.)

This paper by Battour et al. (2014), discuses about the features, characteristics and trends in the tourism industry with a special focus on Kuala Lampur as a major hub of tourism. The authors argue that the tourism industry over the years is trying to understand the psychographic factors that influence different group of tourists towards a particular destination. Religious tourism has gained momentum over the past few years. The tourism industry have understood the market for this religious tourists and have started offering packages based on the needs of the cultural values and orientations of the tourists. The Muslim population have been found to constitute 1.82 billion of potential customers. Therefore, it has been identified that there should be the prevalence of Halal[1] tourism to capture the Muslim market. Over the recent years, Kuala Lampur has emerged as one of the key destinations for being Halal friendly options, for being known for its Halal hospitality and for being widely recognized for its halal tourism. The objective of the authors was to raise awareness about the different aspects of religious tourism. The research method embraced for this study was a four-step IAD management scale. Around 1300 questionnaires were shared in the major tourist spots and international hotels. It was found that for Islamic tourists, it was the factor of Islamic morality that occupied the top spot while making decision about their choice of destination. The highlight of this research is that it has implications for the marketing industry and understanding of the position of Kuala Lampur as a major tourist destination the halal tourists. The shortcoming of the study is that it could have used the gender and class perspective in gauging the meaning of halal tourism in the context of Kuala Lampur.

Islamic Attributes of Destinations and Their Impact on Tourist Satisfaction

(Henderson, J.C., 2003. Managing tourism and Islam in peninsular Malaysia. Tourism management, 24(4), pp.447-456.)

Henderson (2003), argues regarding the dialectical situation that arises in the face of international tourism. It has been found that there is a perpetually troubled relationship between the prospect of developing the tourism industry in Kuala Lampur and Islam, which is the dominant religion of the country. There arise situations when there is tension, stress and stress between the non-Muslim tourists and the Muslim residents owing the difference in worldview and cultural practises. The federal government have tried to address this issue in a different way especially through the practise of accommodation whereas the state governments have adopted more of a confrontational measure. The research underscored that the policies adopted by the government would have implications on the perception of Malaysia as a tourist hub. This study is important considering it underlines on the aspect of Shariah law that have caused unease among the non-Muslim travellers. The shortcoming of the study is that a generalized view has been created about Malaysia without understanding the diversity of problems in the East Malaysia from that of the Peninsular Malaysia. The merit of this research is that it helps to understand about halal tourism in Malaysia.

(Ragavan, N.A., Subramonian, H. and Sharif, S.P., 2014. Tourists’ perceptions of destination travel attributes: An application to International tourists to Kuala Lumpur.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 144, pp.403-411.)

This paper by Ragavan, Subramaniam and Sharif (2014), encapsulates the perceptions of the tourists about the attributes that attracts them to a travel destination. It is argued by the authors that on understanding the needs and aspirations of the tourists. The highlight of the study is to understand the needs of the tourists. This can be understood as the relevance of the study. The methodology adopted for this study is quantitative research and the technique of data collection used for the study was questionnaire that was distributed among the participants through convenience sampling. Some of the attributes that emerged during the course of the study was the option of food, accommodation, commodities, culture, convenience, people, price, climate and image about Kuala Lampur. Asians were satisfied with Kuala Lampur as a travel destination compared to the western tourists. The drawback of the study is the limited sample population and the cross-sectional data technique.

(Rahman, M.K., 2014. Motivating factors of Islamic tourist’s destination loyalty: an empirical investigation in Malaysia.Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management, 2(1), pp.63-77.)

Managing Tourism and Islam in Peninsular Malaysia

Rahman (2014), in this paper attempts to find the measurement between the motivating factors that influence loyalty towards the destination among the tourists. This can be understood as the relevance of the article. It has been argued that Islamic tourism is popular in the countries of Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Iran, Malaysia is yet to find acceptability as an appealing destination for tourism among the Muslim tourists. The method adopted for this research was self-administered survey questionnaire that was distributed among the Muslim tourists. It was found that Malaysia lacks the attribute of being a major destination for the Muslim tourists as compared to the above-mentioned countries. This can be attributed to the liberal approach of Malaysia towards the foreign tourists and their lifestyle. This study is well documented and emphasizes on the critical role of the needs of the Islamic tourists.

Conclusion:

Therefore, some of the key themes that emerged from the annotated bibliography are that Kuala Lampur has the potential to become a major hub of halal tourism. However owing to its liberal approach it is lagging behind compared to the other Islamic countries. It was also found that Islamic countries have faced dilemma in maintaining a balance between loyalty to their cultural values and acceptance of the foreign tourists.

References

Amir, A.F., Ismail, M.N.I. and See, T.P., 2015. Sustainable tourist environment: Perception of international women travelers on safety and security in Kuala Lumpur. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 168, pp.123-133.

Battour, M., Ismail, M.N. and Battor, M., 2011. The impact of destination attributes on Muslim tourist’s choice. International Journal of tourism research, 13(6), pp.527-540.

Battour, M., Battor, M. and Bhatti, M.A., 2014. Islamic attributes of destination: Construct development and measurement validation, and their impact on tourist satisfaction. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(6), pp.556-564.

Hamzah, A., 2004. Policy and planning of the tourism industry in Malaysia. In The 6th. ADRF General Meeting.

Henderson, J.C., 2003. Managing tourism and Islam in peninsular Malaysia. ourism managemourisment, 24(4), pp.447-456.

Liu, A., 2006. Tourism in rural areas: Kedah, Malaysia.Tourism management, 27(5), pp.878-889.

Musa, G., 2000. Tourism in Malaysia. Tourism in South and Southeast Asia, 144, p.156.

Ragavan, N.A., Subramonian, H. and Sharif, S.P., 2014. Tourists’ perceptions of destination travel attributes: An application to International tourists to Kuala Lumpur.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 144, pp.403-411.

Rahman, M.K., 2014. Motivating factors of Islamic tourist’s destination loyalty: an empirical investigation in Malaysia.Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management, 2(1), pp.63-77.

Ujang, N. and Muslim, Z., 2014. Walkability and attachment to tourism places in the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Athens journal of Tourism, 1(1), pp.53-66

[1] The term halal refers to adherence to the religious code among the Muslims and following the prescription and proscriptions of a practicing Muslim.