Assessment on tour Operator perception of ecotourism in Lojing Highlands, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia

Ecotourism is one of the important sectors in aspects of giving good economic impact for the surrounding and at the same time, protecting nature of environment. Lojing Highlands is one of the ecotourism sites due to its main attraction and biodiversity. The objectives of this study were to investigate the perception of tour operator on ecotourism in Lojing Highlands, to determine the benefits derived in aspects of income generation and to identify the tour 0perator’s way of approach in attracting tourists. Questionnaire and interview survey were used in this study for data collection method. The data has been analysed through IBM SPSS Statistics. Results show that from a total of l 1 tour operator companies based in Cameron Highlands, only one tour operator company namely as Hilltop Travel & Tour that actively monopoly the tourism activities in Lojing Highlands. Meanwhile, the rest of them did not consider Lojing Highlands as ecotourism site due to lack of variance in natural attractions. Thus, from this stage of ecotourism development, tour operator did not view ecotourism in Lojing Highland as source of income generation. Lack of promotion and people awareness on existence of Rafflesia kerri in Lojing Highlands can be considered as the contributing factors for least amount of tourists to purchase tour package to Lojing Highlands. Thus, several recommendations were suggested to develop and commercializing Lojing Highlands as ecotourism place.