Sculpting a community for tourism enterprise: A case study in Lenggong valley, Malaysia

Abstract

Entrepreneurship training is an integral element that promotes entrepreneurship across a wide range of industries. In rural areas, the success of tourism destination heavily and solely depends on community involvement. Hence, community-based tourism enterprise (CBTE) appears to be a practical approach in encouraging the community to be involved in entrepreneurial activities. Nevertheless, efforts are scarce to document the training modules of CBTE program established in rural tourism. This study, hence, explored the training modules for CBTE development in the Lenggong Valley and measured the effectiveness of the training. The program has been initiated by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) with cooperation from Northern Corridor Economic Implementation (NCIA). The CBTE training was successfully conducted, wherein the community had placed high ranking for most of the items. The identified main challenge refers to sustenance of the business entity. This article contributes to CBTE literature by sharing a new perspective pertaining to training modules within the context of rural tourism. The study outcomes may be utilised by other CBTE programs with some modification to suit their specific needs and requirements.