THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMMES FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM TOURISM BUSINESSES FROM AN INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

It is well-known that the tourism sector has significantly contributed to economic and social development in developing countries, including Malaysia. The government has a major influence on implementing programmes to support tourism businesses. Previous researchers have proven that the implementation process of these programmes is complex and ineffective. Therefore, this paper explored the implementation of various tourism programmes and barriers to effective implementation. Using semi-structured interviews, seven respondents were selected from government agencies at different organisational levels. The findings revealed that the main barriers are found in the government organisation itself, which are lack of collaboration among agencies, insufficient resources, and lack of skilled agencies to implement effective programmes. Besides, external factors, such as low involvement among local operators, emerged as the main barriers faced by government agencies. This paper proposes the need for the government to clearly understand the objective, the functions, and the implementation process of each tourism programme.