journal article Mar 31, 2026

CULTURAL FESTIVALS AND THEIR ROLE IN TOURISM IN SABAH

View at Publisher Save 10.35631/jthem.1143033
Abstract
Cultural festivals have become crucial elements for tourism development because they deliver real cultural experiences which attract tourists and help maintain local cultural heritage. The multicultural identity of Sabah Malaysia together with its indigenous cultural heritage forms the basis of its major cultural festivals which include the Kaamatan Harvest Festival and Regatta Lepa to enhance both tourist attraction and community growth. The research assessed how cultural festivals throughout Sabah developed tourist traffic through their impact on making destinations more appealing and generating economic gains and fostering community involvement and maintaining environmental balance. The researchers used the PRISMA framework to carry out a systematic literature review. The researchers discovered relevant research studies through five major academic databases which included Scopus Web of Science Google Scholar ScienceDirect and Emerald Insight. The researchers analyzed 34 studies from an initial set of 430 records after applying the inclusion criteria. The research results demonstrate that cultural festivals in Sabah increase the region's tourist appeal through their display of indigenous cultural heritage which provides local communities with job opportunities and educational resources. The findings show that businesses face three main challenges which include excessive commercialization problems with their infrastructure and dangers to their cultural identity and these issues need to be handled through environmental preservation methods. The study contributes to academic literature by merging cultural heritage and sustainable tourism research to study festival tourism in Sabah. The study offers practical guidelines for policymakers and tourism planners through its focus on community-based planning and capacity building and sustainable festival management methods which help maintain cultural heritage during tourism expansion.
Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References
28
[1]
Akhundova, A. (2024). Role of festivals in stimulating the development of event tourism. Theoretical and Practical Research in Economic Fields (TPREF), 15(2 (30)), 277-287. https://doi.org/10.14505/tpref.v15.2(30).11 10.14505/tpref.v15.2(30).11
[2]
Aytuq, H., K. & Mikaeli, M. (2017). Evaluation of Hopa’s rural tourism potential in the context of European Union Tourism Policy. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 37, 234-245. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2017.03.039 10.1016/j.proenv.2017.03.039
[3]
Belly, T., Ali, Q. A. S. A., Mogindol, S. H., Hanafiah, M. H., & Mohammad, N. (2024). THE PERCEPTIONS OF THE DUSUN TATANA COMMUNITY REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL TOURISM IN KUALA PENYU, SABAH. BIMP-EAGA Journal for Sustainable Tourism Development, 13(1), 16-31. DOI: 10.51200/bejstd.v13i1.5820 10.51200/bejstd.v13i1.5820
[4]
Diaz-Soria, I., & Blanco-Romero, A. (2024). Regional development: redefining tourism through musical events. Anatolia, 35(3), 482-493. https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2023.2264305 10.1080/13032917.2023.2264305
[5]
Danting, Z., Marhaza, M. & Farzana, Q. (2018). Enhancing the tourism operation success in Sabah Malaysia: A conceptual framework. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 147-151. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i3.21.17151 10.14419/ijet.v7i3.21.17151
[6]
Harrisa, S. I., Kristanto, Y., Sendra, I. M., & Ridho, R. O. (2023). Development Model of Traditional Ritual Festivalization as Cultural Tourism Attraction in Padang Panjang City, West Sumatra. Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, 1(11), 949-960. https://doi.org/10.59888/ajosh.v1i11.94 10.59888/ajosh.v1i11.94
[7]
Ilieva, L., Bozhinova, M., Todorova, L., Marinov, M., Ismailov, T., & Spasova, S. (2024). Festivals: An Opportunity for Sustainable Development of Tourism Regions. Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental, 18(11), 1-15. DOI:10.24857/rgsa.v18n11-069 10.24857/rgsa.v18n11-069
[8]
Ko, S. H., Kim, J. Y., Choi, Y., Kim, J., & Kang, H. C. (2022). Storytelling festival participation and tourists’ revisit intention. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 968472. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.968472 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.968472
[9]
Laing, J. (2018). Festival and event tourism research: Current and future perspectives. Tourism management perspectives, 25, 165-168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2017.11.024 10.1016/j.tmp.2017.11.024
[10]
Lopes, R., & Hiray, A. (2024). Impacts Of Cultural Events And Festivals On Cultural Tourism. Journal of Advanced Zoology, 45. https://doi.org/10.53555/jaz.v45iS4.4177 10.53555/jaz.v45is4.4177
[11]
Mair, J., & Duffy, M. (2018). The role of festivals in strengthening social capital in rural communities. Event Management, 22(6), 875-889. https://doi.org/10.3727/152599518X15346132863229 10.3727/152599518x15346132863229
[12]
Mazlan, C. A. N., Abdullah, M. H., Nor Hashim, N. S., & Abdul Wahid, N. (2025). Music in cultural tourism: insights from a dual approach of scoping review and bibliometric analysis. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04847-3 10.1057/s41599-025-04847-3
[13]
Mazlan, C. A. N., Abdullah, M. H., Hashim, N. S. N., Wahid, N. A., Pisali, A., Uyub, A. I., ... & Hidayatullah, R. (2025). Discovery the intersection of performing arts in cultural tourism: a scoping review. Discover Sustainability, 6(1), 14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-025-00805-w 10.1007/s43621-025-00805-w
[14]
Mo, L., Goh, Y. N., & Luo, Y. (2023). The Influence of Tourist Involvement and Loyalty at Rural Festival: The Moderating Role of Culture and Heritage. International Journal of Operations and Quantitative Management, 29(1), 83-107. https://submissions.ijoqm.org/index.php/ijoqm/article/view/162
[15]
Naqvi, M. H. A., Jiang, Y., Naqvi, M. H., Miao, M., Liang, C., & Mehmood, S. (2018). The effect of cultural heritage tourism on tourist word of mouth: The case of lok versa festival, Pakistan. Sustainability, 10(7), 2391. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072391 10.3390/su10072391
[16]
Nkunzi, T. P., & Nyikana, S. (2025). Leveraging rural festivals for sustainable community development. Geojournal of Tourism and Geosites, 63, 2888-2897. https://gtg.webhost.uoradea.ro/PDF/GTG-4spl-2025/gtg.634spl33-1648.pdf 10.30892/gtg.634spl33-1648
[17]
Praswati, A. N., Tikarina, Q. N., & Fadhali, A. F. (2020). Attraction of Cultural Festival on Travel Destination. KnE Social Sciences, 536-554. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v4i6.6625 10.18502/kss.v4i6.6625
[18]
Prastyo, R. E., Rozuli, A. I., Wisadirana, D., & Hakim, M. L. (2025). Tourism and economic development in cultural festival based on a successful event in Cempluk Village. Jurnal Aplikasi Manajemen, 23(1), 44-62. https://doi.org/10.21776/ub.jam.2025.023.1.03 10.21776/ub.jam.2025.023.1.03
[19]
Pysarevskiy, M., Panova, I., Sidorov, M., & Derkach, A. (2025). Theoretical foundations of festival tourism research. The Journal of VN Karazin Kharkiv National University. Series: International Relations. Economics. Country Studies. Tourism, (21), 220-229. https://doi.org/10.26565/2310-9513-2025-21-23 10.26565/2310-9513-2025-21-23
[20]
Ossowska, L., Janiszewska, D., Kwiatkowski, G., & Kloskowski, D. (2023). The impact of local food festivals on rural areas’ development. Sustainability, 15(2), 1447. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021447. 10.3390/su15021447
[21]
Richards, G., & King, B. (2022). The experience of cultural festivals: evidence from Hong Kong. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 14(3), 296-309. https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2022.2033249 10.1080/19407963.2022.2033249
[22]
Cultural tourism: A review of recent research and trends

Greg Richards

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 10.1016/j.jhtm.2018.03.005
[23]
Sofia, H. F. (2024). Advancing tourism through culture and innovation based events. Journal of Tourism Destination and Attraction, 12(1), 25-38. https://doi.org/10.35814/tourism.v12i1.6496 10.35814/tourism.v12i1.6496
[24]
Yusoh, M. P., Dering, N. F., Mapjabil, J., Abdul Latip, N., Kumalah, M. J., Mohd. Noor, H., & Hanafi, N. (2022). ASSESSMENT OF PAYMENT RATES AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY AT TOURIST DESTINATION - A COMPARISON BETWEEN KUNDASANG AND KOTA BELUD, SABAH, MALAYSIA. PLANNING MALAYSIA, 20(23). https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v20i23.1148 10.21837/pm.v20i23.1148
[25]
Yusoh, M. P., Hua, A. K., Latip, N. A., Zakaria, Z., Jambol, D. J. A., Khairullah, M. A. A. A., & Abd Gafor, R. (2023). The effectiveness of tourism development in social cultural approach in sabah. Planning Malaysia, 21. https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v21i28.1326 10.21837/pm.v21i28.1326
[26]
Yanti, N. K. W., Mahadewi, N. N. T., Wisudawati, N. N. S., Shantika, B., & Yusnny, B. D. (2025). Bali's cultural festivals: A visitor magnet supporting sustainable tourism. International Journal of Applied Sciences in Tourism and Events, 9(1), 25-40. https://doi.org/10.31940/ijaste.v9i1.25-40 10.31940/ijaste.v9i1.25-40
[27]
Zakaria, Z., & Hua, A. K. (2024). Exploring the cultural tourism of Malaysia: A comprehensive review. Sustainable Environmental Insight, 1(2), 96-107. https://doi.org/10.53623/sein.v1i2.478 10.53623/sein.v1i2.478
[28]
Zou, Y., Meng, F., Bi, J., & Zhang, Q. (2021). Evaluating sustainability of cultural festival tourism: From the perspective of ecological niche. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 48, 191-199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.06.009 10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.06.009
Metrics
0
Citations
28
References
Details
Published
Mar 31, 2026
Vol/Issue
11(43)
Pages
508
Cite This Article
Lesley Hiew Soon Sang (2026). CULTURAL FESTIVALS AND THEIR ROLE IN TOURISM IN SABAH. Journal of Tourism Hospitality and Environment Management, 11(43), 508. https://doi.org/10.35631/jthem.1143033