Rural Community Tourism as a Catalyst for Rural Entrepreneurship Development: Case of Miso Walai Homestay Program in Malaysia (Review Completed - Accepted)
The role of Community Based Ecotourism (CBET) towards rural community development has been realized particularly in the developing countries. Some of the CBT sites have become an incubator for rural entrepreneurial activities, which gradually developed into a hub for small scale enterprises (SME). This paper shares the experience of Miso Walai Homestay, a model CBT located in Batu Puteh, Kinabatangan in the state of Sabah, Malaysia that has directly and directly changed the mindset of the local community towards entrepreneurism and business environment. The researchers used the qualitative approach through combining semi-structured interviews and participant observation to understand how CBT triggered the development and growth of local small scale businesses and prepares the local community to embark on new business ventures.The CBT in Batu Puteh acts as an incubator to prepare the local community towards being entrepreneurs by solidifying the local community’s confidence in their ability to create business opportunities as well as their skills in running a business. CBT also creates an enabling environment for the growth of local small-scale businesses as evidenced by the establishment of new cooperatives and new businesses. The intervention of these businesses along the CBT value chain has created and will create significant economic return on investments for the local people; and minimize economic leakages through their local linkages
Keywords: Community Based Tourism Enterprise, Community-Based Tourism, Community-Based Tourism Ecotourism, Leakages, Linkages, Rural Entrepreneurship