Sustainable tourism development in rural areas: An alternative paradigm using the appreciative inquiry approach

Abstract

Sustainable development is now widely promoted as a holistic concept that aims to integrate social, economic and cultural policies to ensure high-quality growth in the context to which it is applied. Although rural tourism in Malaysia has been under development for a long time, major gaps still exist in this industry, especially in the field of sustainable rural tourism. Many efforts have been made to enhance the demand for rural tourism as well as to improve the planning, management and development approaches for rural tourism. Nevertheless, efforts have been insufficient and there are still disturbing issues which do not reflect sustainable rural tourism practices. Thus, this chapter attempts to discuss the significance of sustainable tourism development and the application of Appreciative Inquiry approach as one of the alternative paradigm tourism research tools which it offer researchers another worldwide and methodology for framing and conducting tourism research. It does not mean that AI will replace all research approaches or can overcome all the challenges of conducting research. However, AI can be considered as a new method, approach or strategy for tourism research, which initiates positive changes especially in rural communities. It is believed that there is significant potential for the adoption of the AI approach within the tourism discipline to increase understanding the rural population’s knowledge, needs and priority, without alienating them from research.