Search

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of 2u2i – two years attachment with university and two years attachment with industry – a new learning mode introduced by the Ministry of Education as a strategy to enhance the employability of university undergraduate degree students in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach The new mode of undergraduate degree program requires the university and industry to collaborate on the design of the curriculum and development of student training programs. Based on a series of qualitative discussions, the paper draws on the perspectives of university administrators and selected practitioners from the hospitality and tourism industry who are interested in developing 2u2i curriculum and working together to enhance the overall employability of university graduates. The paper explains the issues and challenges in implementing the 2u2i program at a local public university as a case study in Malaysia. Findings The 2u2i program provides a significant opportunity for industry to collaborate with the university in enhancing competencies and relevant skills among degree graduates so that they are able to excel in the workplace. Some of the issues and challenges involve bureaucratic procedures, time constraints in developing the program with industry, delay in approval procedures of the program and extra costs highlighted in managing the program with industry. Despite several challenges relating to the implementation of the program, it is important for industry to collaborate with universities in designing relevant curriculum to augment the employability skills of university graduates in Malaysia. Originality/value This paper explores different strategies for engaging with industry practitioners so that they are able to work closely with the university in crafting academic curricula in the hospitality and tourism field. This is important because it enhances university graduate employability via a relevant curriculum based on input from the industry.

The objective of this study is to examine the issues and challenges of making a geopark status as a destination brand to promote sustainable tourism. It briefly describes the process of obtaining geopark status based on the experience with Langkawi Island, Malaysia which was designated in 2007. 35 individuals were interviewed representing various important stakeholders such as different level of managers of a development authority, National Tourism Organization, tourism operators and local community concerning their expectations, government initiatives, and acceptance towards promoting Langkawi Geopark as a brand. The findings indicate that most of the stakeholders support and accept the Langkawi Geopark as a global brand that recognised by UNESCO. However, most of them are still confused about the Geopark concept in terms of its implementations and the actions needed to protect the brand. More concerted efforts are needed to create the Geopark brand awareness especially among local community and business operators. It is necessary to educate these stakeholders about the benefits of having the geopark status in order to use the brand to promote sustainable tourism development on the island.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potentials of developing Pondok Institutions as an Islamic tourism product. Due to Islamic tourism growth, there is a need to diversify Islamic tourism products to cater to Muslim spiritual tourists' niche market. In order to explore various attributes of Pondok institutions, a series of in-depth interviews with the Pondok operators throughout the country was conducted. The interviews were transcribed and coded into different themes. The research findings revealed four main themes describing Pondok institutions' potentials as an Islamic spiritual tourism product. These were grouped under distinct themes: tranquility of the Pondok environment, curricula and facilities and services. Based on the Pondok attributes identified in this paper, future studies might focus on the pondok visitors' characteristics using quantitative study. Exploring the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the Pondok operations might also be conducted.

Domestic tourism in Malaysia has contributed significantly to the country's economy and made a sustainable impact on the tourism industry. Langkawi is one of the most visited tourists' attractions in Malaysia which is well-known for island tourism and Geotourism. This study explores the relationship of tourists' motivation, destination brand engagement and domestic tourists' revisit intention in Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark, Malaysia. The study also examined the mediating role of destination brand management and destination trust between tourists motivation and revisit intention. This study used a quantitative approach to explore the relationships among dependent, independent and intervening variables. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed, and 212 usable questionnaires returned and utilised for further analysis. For analysis purpose, the researchers decided to utilise SPSS version 25.0 for descriptive statistics and PLS-SEM version 3 for inferential analysis. The results found that tourists' motivation significantly influences destination brand engagement and destination trust for a direct relationship. Results also found that destination brand engagement and destination trust significantly affect tourists' revisit intention in Geopark Langkawi, Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the brand identity development efforts of Langkawi Island as one of the most prominent and well-guarded tourism destinations in Malaysia. It will be viewed from the historical perspectives for the last 35 years since the 1980s until the present time as to how this involvement influences the formation of its brand identity and later, the existing destination image. Based on in-depth interviews with eleven different levels of managers of separate divisions for destination management organizations (DMOs) in Langkawi Island, Malaysia, theoretically, the findings provide an opportunity to expand the knowledge of destination brand identity development and the involvement of DMOs in influencing image making over time. Practically, the findings indicate three key important antecedents of brand identity development efforts related to: (1) the effects from multiple positioning themes and slogans, (2) the important of brand coordination, and (3) brand leadership issue. These empirical findings provide new insights into enhancing the theoretical aspect of managing a destination brand, including its close relationship with issues faced by destination marketing organizations in managing destination branding strategy. Thus, using the case study of Langkawi Island, the context of multiple identities or image fragmentation is important to be understood due to the different perceived ideas on how the image should be projected according to stakeholders and market segmentation.

In order to establish a strong destination branding, understanding the process of image in positioning the destination is crucial. Arguably, a brand identity for a tourist destination that makes up a name is often captured from the user point of view. However, little was understood as to how the stakeholders perceived image-making, and later, the branding of destination and their influence. In this context, brand identity through projection of Destination Management Organizations (DMOs), significantly contribute towards existing image. In other words, they are forcing the creation of branding using the vision of how the market and segmentation should perceive a brand. The question that may rise is how this branding process is truly acting as a catalyst of a production towards desirable destination. This paper addresses the following issues; (1) Stakeholders’ involvement particularly local community in tourism development and planning (2) previous studies in destination branding (3) the relationships between destination identity and destination brand. This paper also highlights the existing gaps in understanding destination identity from the stakeholders’ perspectives to the branding strategy. It also suggests the future studies.