Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) on Tourism Destination Competitiveness in Mabul Island, Sabah

Abstract

Mabul Island is a popular diving site for divers, with its main appeal of marine life as one of the most visited islands in Malaysia. If the island is not protected from tourist activities, its image as a tourist destination may deteriorate. This research focuses on measuring the tourism destination competitiveness by evaluating the sustainable features of Mabul Island using Importance Performance Analysis (IPA). The aim is to identify the most essential features of Mabul and evaluate its performance. The survey questionnaires were distributed to tourists who visited Mabul Island between 2017 and February 2020. Six (6) attributes that represent tourism destination competitiveness (TDC); destination management, natural resources, quality service and safety, location and accessibility, E-business, and sustainable tourism were tested. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation and later, paired t-tests were employed to examine the statistical differences between the means of importance and performance. Only two variables; locality and accessibility, and E-business indicated a statistical significance between importance and performance rated by respondents. The mean values were also plotted into the IPA matrix to visually present the results based on four (4) quadrants: Sustainable tourism is the only attribute in the 'keep up the good work' quadrant; Destination management, natural resources, and quality service and safety are in the 'low priority' quadrant; Location locality and accessibility is in 'concentrate here' quadrant; E-business is plotted in 'possible overkill' quadrant. These findings are the valuable information for Sabah Tourism and relevant authorities to enhance Mabul Island and ensure its competitiveness as a desired tourism destination in Malaysia. This study suggested tourism policymakers and destination managers to do necessary monitoring and assessment on a regular basis to preserve the island for tourism purposes.

Persepsi Komuniti Sabah Terhadap Impak Pembangunan Pelancongan Berasaskan Perspektif Alam Sekitar

“…Selain itu, tempoh tinggal di Sabah bagi yang melebihi 9 tahun adalah 60 responden (atau 81.1%) dan juga merupakan jumlah yang paling banyak, diikuti oleh tempoh kurang daripada 1 tahun sebanyak 9 orang (atau 12.2%), tempoh 1 hingga 3 tahun adalah 3 responden (atau 4%), dan terakhir adalah tempoh 4 hingga 6 tahun (atau 2.7%). Keadaan ini amat penting bagi responden yang tinggal lama di Sabah kerana penduduk tempatan dapat merasai perkembangan sektor pelancongan bukan sahaja dari segi impak positif melalui penjanaan pendapatan seharian, malah impak negatif juga akan dirasai melalui kesan-kesan seperti pencemaran alam sekitar (Sundram & Gani, 2022;Rozelee et al, 2015). Bukan setakat itu sahaja, tempoh menetap di sesuatu kawasan yang lama akan memberikan maklumat yang tepat dan jitu dengan berdasarkan kepada pengalaman yang dihadapi oleh responden.…”

Investigating the effect of destination image on revisit intention through tourist satisfaction in Laguna Redang Island Resort, Terengganu

“…For instance, a considerable body of research has attempted to operationalize destination image (Cham et al, 2021b) and explore its influence on tourists' behavior and travel decisions (Loi et al, 2017). However, empirical evidence about destination image in the context of coastal tourism remains relatively rare and requires further investigation (Hasan et al, 2020a;Moon and Han, 2019;Sundram and Gani, 2022). On the basis of this argument, the present study aimed to empirically examine how the destination image of particular places influences tourist satisfaction, resulting in revisit intention.…”