Internal and External Factors that Influence the Success of Mah Meri Indigenous Community through the Pro-Poor Tourism Approach

The tourism industry is one of the development strategies that support economic growth in Malaysia. Tourism can stimulate the economy, promote infrastructure development, and protect natural and cultural resources. The government realizes that the special features of the indigenous community are part of the attraction for cultural tourism. The Pro-Poor Tourism approach can be used to help the success of the indigenous community but is not widely used in Malaysia. In order to empower this Pro-Poor Tourism approach, there are several internal and external factors that influence this indigenous community to achieve success. Lack of basic infrastructure, high incidence of poverty, education issues and changing mindsets are the main issues affecting the indigenous community. Therefore, this study aims to find out the internal and external factors that influence the success of the Mah Meri Indigenous community in the Pro-Poor Tourism approach. Observations, interviews, and documentation were used to collect data. Thematic analysis was used in the data. From the analysis of the data that has been released, interest, motivation, skills and attitudes are among the internal factors that influence the success of the indigenous community while the cooperation network is the most important external factor for this indigenous community to achieve success. The findings of this study are only suitable for this community and not suitable for other communities. However, this study can be adapted to other communities that have the same characteristics or context as the indigenous Mah Meri community. The researcher hopes that other researchers can do more in-depth research on this Pro-Poor Tourism approach in the future.