Water security and sustainable tourism as antecedents of local community’s quality of life in Mabul Island, Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to assess the perception of local communities in Mabul Island towards water security and sustainable tourism in order to improve their quality of life. The study area is at Mabul Island, Sabah. The problem statement highlighted is based on personal communication with tour operators in Mabul Island combined with the theoretical gap from past studies. Thus, this study aims to bridge the research gap by investigating the influence of perception on water security and sustainable tourism towards the quality of life. The objectives of this study are (1) to identify the socio-demographic characteristics of communities in Mabul Island, (2) to identify underlying factors of water security and sustainable tourism, and (3) to determine the causal relationships of perceived water security and sustainable tourism on the quality of life of the communities in Mabul island. A census technique was executed to get the data from all 504 households of the indigenous communities in Mabul Island. A structured questionnaire was designed and used as the instrument to gather the data on the Bajau, Suluk, Bajau Suluk and Bajau Laut communities who were residing in Mabul Island, Sabah; the face to face interview technique was used to collect the data. Descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the collected data. This study analyzed the causal relationships of water security, sustainable tourism and quality of life. The exploratory factor analysis on the perception of the communities produced seven new indicators of water security and sustainable tourism. The results of multiple regression showed that five variables including increased job opportunities for the community, employment in tourism, male members of the communities influenced the quality of life. In addition, the result of the study also found that the awareness on water safety and awareness on quality and quantity of water were significant in influencing the quality of life. It is hoped that the findings of this study will encourage the communities in Mabul Island to be more concerned about water security. Besides, this research will contribute to existing literature on the determinants of quality of life with respect to the awareness of communities in sustaining the tourism development in Mabul Island. The findings of the study are consistent to the generalization of the social exchange theory which emphasizes that the local communities who get improvement in quality of life will support water security enhancement and sustainable tourism. Besides by knowing the perceived level of awareness of the communities on water security and sustainable tourism the relevant agencies can take initiatives to further develop the awareness of the communities on water conservation and sustainable tourism to improve quality of life of the communities in Mabul Island.

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