Developing Human Capital for Rural Community Tourism: Using Experiential Learning Approach

Community awareness, lack of tourism knowledge and skills are the basic constraints that limit the ability of the local people to actively participate in the tourism planning and development. In Malaysia, Miso Walai Homestay at Kinabatangan, Sabah was recognized as one of the best Community Based Tourism Model not only at national level but at the international level. Thus, this study was to explore the process of community capacity building particularly on the aspect of awareness, knowledge, skills as well as attitude of the rural community that enable them to involve themselves in tourism planning. This study applies a qualitative approach by conducting in-depth interview with key informants. All the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of the study showed that about 3 years has been used by the NGO together with the pioneer MESCOT members for the capacity building particularly on the human capital development. The knowledge, skills as well as awareness of the local people have been developed through experiential learning approach. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.