The influences of community attachment on residents’ perceptions towards Lenggong Valley’s designation as the UNESCO world heritage site

Although there is a wealth of literature concerning residents’ perceptions toward tourism, yet very little research has been conducted in the case of World Heritage Sites (WHS). In addition to that, existing studies were also in disagreement about the role of community attachment on residents’ perceptions. Therefore, the purpose of this research, was to explore residents’ perceptions towards the designation of Lenggong Valley as WHS and its association with community attachment. The data were collected using self-administered survey targeting households who live in Lenggong district. The data was then treated with statistical analysis including simple regression, t-test and ANOVA techniques. The outcomes of the study indicated that, residents’ perceptions towards WHS can be divided into two dimensions, namely perceived benefits and perceived costs. In general, local residents were found to perceive the designation of Lenggong Valley as WHS in a positive manner. On top of that, community attachment was also found to positively influence residents’ perceptions towards WHS. Further analysis also indicated that several socio-demographic variables, e.g. place of birth and length of residency play an important role in determining strength of community attachment amongst the local residents.