Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A. Marzuki & D. Mohamad
School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the result of a research that centers on the impact of demographic
impact towards visitation to a nature-based tourism attraction. More specifically, the main objective of
this paper is to provide insights on youth visitation to KILIM Geopark in relation to tourism activities,
hospitality services expectation and three visitation characteristics (visit companion, length of stay and
visit purpose). Within a two-month data gathering and mining, data of total 142 youth respondents aged
18 to 30 with various nationality backgrounds was collected. As geopark tourism activity is the new trend
of nature-based tourism industry, it is assumed that the populace will take pleasure in a distinctive tour-
ism experience. Additionally, the populace is set as the targeted group given their publicly known indirect
pronounced tradition of road trip engagement. In light of the results presented, practical and sensible
solutions are discussed in relation to how youth perceived KILIM Geopark.
Keywords
:
Youth visitors, KILIM Geopark, tourism activities, hospitality services
1
INTRODUCING KILIM: FROM THE
THIRD CATEGORY TO A WORLD
CLASS ATTRACTION
UNESCO where this crowns KILIM Geopark as
the first global geopark both in Malaysia and in
Southeast Asia (Azman, Halim, Liu & Komoo,
2011). Prior to tourism movement, KILIM
Geopark generally and Langkawi Island specifi-
cally, primarily operated on the agricultural- and
fisheries-based economy (Abdul Halim, Komoo,
Salleh & Omar, 2011). At present, geopark would
be considered as a new movement helping travel-
lers to increase their knowledge about natural
resources, cultural identity of the hosts and ways
of preserving them. Emphasizing on the conven-
tional wisdom that seldom relates youth tourism to
ideas of education/culture exchange.
Heritage-based tourism as well as other tourism's
segments proposes the potential for numerous
economic benefits for a geopark, thereby motivat-
ing the local economy both directly and indirectly
through the multiplier or trickle-down effect (Her-
bert, 2001). A geopark is a nationally protected
area containing a number of geological heritage
sites being part of an integrated concept of protec-
tion, education and sustainable development (Far-
sani, Coelho & Costa, 2011). KILIM Geopark,
located in Langkawi Island of the State of Kedah,
is well established for its valuable nature-based
tourism industry and famous for its duty free
zone status effective since 1987 (Othman, Rosli &
Harun, 2011). The area is promoted as a unique
archipelago comprises of ninety nine scenic small
islands. KILIM Geopark's limestone heritage
value is worth 450 million years and more impor-
tantly, the unique and outstanding characteristics
have crowned KILIM Geopark as the complete
archipelago, to date (Leman, Komoo, Mohamed,
Ali & Unjah, 2007). The idea of promoting this
unique archipelago is to educate and deepen the
understanding on the importance of sustainability
development (Huang, 2010). This directly suggests
the significance of KILIM Geopark as an
'…out-
standing universal value for humanity'
(Elliott &
Schmutz, 2012, p. 256). In 2007, KILIM Geopark
has been gazette as the 52nd Global Geopark by
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
Youth tourism
The first youth tourism conference dated back to
1991 where the importance of youth tourism was
analyzed for the purpose of constructing pragmatic
strategies, policies, facilities and service (Abdel-
Ghaffar, Handy, Jafari, Kreul & Stivala, 1992). The
first to show a promising development progress
and potential profits compared to international
tourism (Abdel-Ghaffar, et al., 1992) and seldom
referred to as a trend setter (Wilkening, 2010), con-
ventional wisdom seldom relates youth tourism to
ideas of, but not limited to, budget travel, back-
packing, summer camp, winter holiday and educa-
tion/culture exchange. Schnhammer (1992) views
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