Assessing Tourists' Willingness to Pay for Community-Based Ecotourism: Enhancing Sustainability and Local Involvement

Malaysia’s captivating attractions are increasingly promoted through community-based ecotourism (CBE) initiatives. These efforts aim to empower local communities, conserve nature, and generate income by involving locals in managing ecotourism resources and activities, ensuring both economic benefits and sustainability of protected environments. CBE highlights diverse customs and cultures, enhancing ecotourism experiences through local resources. Understanding tourists' attitudes and preferences is crucial for developing sustainable cultural tourism packages. Key inquiries involve measuring local community participation, artistic elements, and tourism offerings in CBE management around protected parks. Evaluating tourism preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for attributes provided by local businesses is essential for effective CBE management strategies in rural areas. This study employs the Choice Experiment model to analyze tourists' preferences for CBE activities and their marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for management attributes at Min House Camp (MHC) in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan. The attributes examined include local community involvement, activity packages, accommodation facilities, and information provided. The study found 'super' package activity, increased local participation and employment, excellent accommodation, and adequate information to be the most important attributes. The study suggests that business owners and local managers adopt the CBE concept and focus on the key qualities that have been identified. Local communities and stakeholders should implement new tour packages at MHC, combining desirable features to meet market demand. Future studies could use a mixed logit model to account for multiple attributes of community ecotourism tours in protected parks.