From surviving to thriving? Evaluating the resilience of rural tourism businesses in disaster-prone area of Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

It is always fascinating to learn how tourism businesses can persist in rural areas that are prone to disasters. This study examines the enabling factors for rural tourism resilience in a changing environment. Mesilou Village in Kundasang, Sabah was selected as a case study and 20 respondents i.e. homestays owners and operators participated in the questionnaire-guided interview conducted in October 2018. Results from this study indicated that there is a combination of factors that influence the survivability of rural tourism businesses in Mesilou Village, particularly after the 6.0 Richter scale earthquakes struck the Ranau-Kundasang area in June 2015. These factors included; (1) strong self-belief among tourism operators that they will recover from the disaster; (2) strong kinship and family support for business recovery; (3) respondents' possession of suitable skills to carry out own maintenance and recovery works; (4) diversification of household income to fund recovery works and (5) the low severity of damages suffered by the business/premise i.e. minor to no damage. The case of Mesilou Village demonstrates resilience from highly motivated respondents to rebuild their lives and businesses, pushing for business recovery and growth with an important goal in mind which is to improve the quality of life while coping with adversity.