Open Conference System of FPP UNP, The 6th International Conference on Culinary, Fashion, Beauty and Tourism (ICCFBT) 2023

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The Roles of Local Communities on Heritage City Destination Image Towards Heritage Attractions Sustainability in George Town, Penang
Mohamed Ashraf Aidid Mohamed Sharif, Mohd Salehuddin Mohd Zahari

Last modified: 2023-10-23

Abstract


Due to the lack of local communities' involvement in the sustaining of the heritage and attractions, it is difficult to maintain a balance between sustainable tourism development and urban heritage sites. It has long been understood how crucial it is to involve the local community in the long-term development of the World Heritage Sites (WHS). Travel and tourism decisions may be influenced by the subjective concept of destination image. It is crucial in shaping tourist's perceptions of a destination's attractiveness, appeal, and suitability for their travel needs and it affects visitor behavior, preferences, and place of trip. Challenges with sustainability and safeguarding occur when more people visit cultural heritage sites and attractions. The concern is how these heritage sites might be conserved while still allowing for an increase in visitor numbers. Although heritage attractions in tourism have become more popular, ensuring their sustainability is crucial on a global and national level. Local communities' engagement is sometimes constrained owing to poor participation and inadequate knowledge despite their involvement also having a major influence on their sustainability. To achieve long-term sustainability, local communities must take responsibility and control behaviour to make tourism consumption and production in WHS more sustainable, both individually and collectively. This proposes research aims to discuss the local communities’ roles that include recognition, sustainability action and influencing factors towards heritage attractions sustainability and heritage city destinations image focusing on George Town, Penang Malaysia.


Keywords


Local Communities roles, Heritage city Destination Image, Heritage city sustainability