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PurposeDespite the significant economic contributions of the tourism and hospitality industry, it is also considered an emerging concern for its negative impact on the environment. This study investigated the association between green inclusive leadership (GIL), green human resource management (GHRM), and employee proactive pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). The study also investigated the mediating effect of GHRM between GIL and proactive PEB.Design/methodology/approachHotel employees in Malaysia were the respondents in this study. The researchers used a cross-sectional approach and partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyse the data.FindingsResults found a significant relationship between GIL, GHRM and proactive PEB. Findings of the study revealed that GHRM significantly meditates the relations between GIL and proactive PEB.Practical implicationsThis study presents practical implications for the hotel industry by encouraging employees' environmentally responsible behaviour. Enlightening the role of environmentally open and accepting ways to promote positive employee behaviour is of considerable practical use not solely for the organisations but additionally for culture as a whole.Originality/valueTheoretical contributions are made by constructing a new structural model supported by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and the induction of GIL, GHRM, and proactive PEB and measuring the factors simultaneously. The study further established the mediating role of GHRM between GIL and proactive PEB.

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 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.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the branding efforts by Langkawi Island based on various slogans and taglines used from 1974 until present. Secondary sources such as government reports, destination marketing organization websites, brochures and previous studies were referred to identify those slogans. This paper argues that destination branding process is not as easy as most destination marketing thought. The process is complex and it may need involvement from various stakeholders such as local population and tourism operators. Based on the various slogans identified, this paper argues that too many slogans and taglines are used and thus they may create confusion among host population, tourism operators as well as the tourists in terms of what are the actual core values of the island. The paper concludes with a suggestion that an empirical research is needed to confirm whether all these slogans or brands used are endorsed and supported by the internal stakeholders (e.g. host community, tourism operators) as well as in agreement with what as being perceived by the tourists.