Community involvement in Tioman Island Tourist Entrepreneurship and the Role of Tourism Incentives

The development of tourism activities based on community involvement is able to strengthening particular industries and institutions in the society. This is due to existence of cooperation among them to highlight the unique features of the society besides gaining economic, social and cultural advantages. This study aims to investigate the involvement of local communities in Pulau Tioman in the tourism sector and to identify whether tourism incentives provided by the government facilitate the development of tourism entrepreneurship in Tioman Island. Research findings showed that tourism development in Tioman Island managed to attract participation of local communities in various tourism sub-sectors such as accommodation, catering (restaurants), and other tourism supportive services. However, the available incentives are not of a great help to develop local tourism entrepreneurial venture. This is mainly because majority of entrepreneurs are not aware of these incentives and not knowing their term and conditions. After giving information about these incentives many entrepreneurs realized their useful to them. However, it is recommended that the government should provide soft loans to tour operators especially in the accommodation and transport sub-sectors which involve many tourism entrepreneurs.