Kuching Waterfront development impact on Urban Tourism / Lorita Juien

The study is about the interaction between a city and river (waterfront) effect on the tourism field. Urban tourism is increasingly recognized in Malaysia as an important component of a city's economy and more urban areas are investing in the development of a successful tourism business by supporting substantial infrastructure development, such as waterfront precincts. However, because of constraints such as weak governance and insufficient federal, state, and local planning guidelines, the waterfronts are plagued by issues such as environmental deterioration, criminality, and floods. Although some waterfront development projects with good public access continue to be successful, many do not. This study will focus on the Kuching Waterfront Development Impact on Urban Tourism where the problems and issues are related to the water pollution and the public interests in the waterfront activities. Therefore, objectives were provided to achieve the aim of the study which are to understand the theoretical aspect for urban development and tourism, to identify the characteristics of Kuching waterfront in terms of urban tourism, to determine the factors affecting the waterfront tourism development and to make suggestion for improving the study area. The methods used to conduct the study are three (3) which are observation, questionnaire survey (Google Form) and through government agency and online survey. There were 60 respondents replied to the questionnaire, and because of the pandemic Covid-19 outbreak the number of respondents were lessened by half because of the difficulty in finding respondents. The questionnaire results shown the level of satisfactions based on the waterfront characteristics and elements to improve the services and quality that require on the study area. At the last chapter, some suggestions will be suggested to indicate positive values and upgrades needed to make sure the objectives achieved.