Levels of ecotourism understanding among members of the local community of Pahang’s Lata Jarum, Malaysia

As ecotourism gains momentum in many developing countries, so is the discourse on what constitute ideal ecotourism practices. One fundamental principle that warrants proper understanding is the relationship between environment and tourism as this strikes at the heart of minimizing negative environment impacts on human wellbeing. This article evaluates a local community’s understanding of the relationship between environment and eco-tourism. A survey was conducted through interviews with 252 residents of four villages in Ulu Dong, Raub, Pahang. The results showed that the overall level of ecotourism knowledge among respondents was moderate. Specifically, the relationship between level of respondents’ understanding of ecotourism and selected variables were weakly negative (gender), non-existent (age), negative and moderate (race), and weakly positive (level of education). The results point to the need of harnessing further efforts in cultivating a proper understanding of ecotourism in the way that would enhance the local community’s awareness of the impacts of environmental degradation on local eco-tourism, and that would contribute further to the implementation of appropriate environmental conservation and preservation measures in the locality.