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Increasingly, land is a scarce resource which is much sought after in Penang Island, Malaysia. This is because Penang is largely made up of steep topography and much of the lowland areas are already developed. Penang is one of the many rapidly industrialising states in Malaysia with a largely urban populace. In recent decades, efforts at industrialisation and the development of other economic sectors have been intensified, leading to greater urbanisation and greater pressures on land. Although land reclamation has eased the pressures somewhat, it is not enough to satisfy the high demand for land on the island. As such, developers have turned to the remaining hill land on the island. Many hills and their environs are already being developed and many hill projects are in the pipe line. This has led to many environmental problems such as deforestation, decimation of water catchments, destruction of endangered fauna and flora, soil erosion, landslides, water pollution, sedimentation and downstream flooding. Some of these problems have been exacerbated and turned into disasters due to the extremely fragile and sensitive nature of hill ecosystems. Despite such problems, the State Government has decided to lift the freeze on development of hill land since January 1998, and this has effectively opened up all hill land for development on the island. Therefore, hill land needs to be protected and conserved by other means and this study recommends the adoption of a policy of “No development in all ecologically and environmentally sensitive areas”, the setting up of a Hill Land Technical Committee (HLTC) to manage all developments pertaining to hill land and to gazette all hill land in the State, and the use of state‐of‐the‐art remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to monitor and control development activities on hill land in Penang.

This study aimed to analyse the role of the Waqf Fund Scheme, by taking Penang (or Pulau Pinang) as one of the states in Malaysia as a sample of the study. Waqf Fund Scheme was established by the Islamic Religious Council of Penang, Majlis Agama Islam Negeri Pulau Pinang (MAINPP), in an effort to develop the economy of the Muslim community in the state.

This study analysed the contribution that this endowment fund makes towards a comprehensive scheme of economic development, namely, in terms of the economic, spiritual and social welfare of the Muslim community in Penang. The primary source of data was obtained through interviews conducted by the researcher with the Manager of the Waqf Fund Scheme, the Head of Administration and Finance Section and the Account Executive of MAINPP. The researcher also interviewed respondents from four institutions that were beneficiaries of the Waqf Fund Scheme.

The findings of this research show that the endowment fund scheme plays an important role in the economic development of the Muslim community in Penang. The Waqf Fund Scheme contributes by way of providing a financing facility towards the acquisition of waqf assets or through cash support channelled to associations or committees of a masjid.

This study only focuses on Waqf Fund Scheme which was established by MAINPP.

This study is expected to contribute to the improvement of the Waqf Fund Scheme management.

The paper is the first attempt to address the Waqf Fund Scheme contributions by MAINPP, particularly in Penang.

Globally, several studies have shown that biosphere reserves faced severe threats related to climate and human changes. Community participation in environmental sustainability may mitigate these threats in biosphere reserve destinations. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the community perceptions regarding the proposed Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve with the support of Community Readiness Theory to the framework via qualitative research.

To achieve this, 13 face-to-face interviews were conducted that covered major communities within the hill and validated via secondary sources. Phenomenological type of qualitative research and a combination of purposeful and snowball type of non-probability sampling techniques were used.

This paper found that Penang Hill Corporation does collaborate with communities around the hill in matters connected with hill conservation.

This paper is limited to investigating community perceptions regarding the proposed Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve. Future research is needed to further investigate the framework and the supporting theory (Community Readiness Theory).

This paper recommended that Penang Hill Corporation should build more effective communication capacity for the communities around the hill via coordinated synergy within the various agencies and communities. Also, the act that established the corporation should be reviewed to capture the provision of liaison offices for agencies controlling various sections of the hill.

This paper demonstrates that positive community engagement will enhance environmental sustainability and possibly facilitate recognition by UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Reserve Programme.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the process that leads to the revisit intentions of young domestic travellers to Penang for its multi-ethnic street food based on the ABC model of attitudes and the theory of consumption values.

Data were collected online from 305 local Generation Y and Z travellers via a purposive sampling method and analysed using SmartPLS v.3.2.6.

Taste value had the most salient effect on attitude towards Penang street food followed by emotional value. The impact of attitude on the intention to revisit Penang for its street food is mediated by place attachment.

Apart from ensuring the authentic taste of multi-ethnic street food is preserved, campaigns crafted to boost street food tourism should communicate how eating street food can manifest in feelings of enjoyment, pleasure and excitement to the young travellers as well as highlight the identity of the place as an incomparable street food destination.

This study demonstrates that continuous revisits to a destination for street food is affective-driven with the significant role of place attachment as a mediator and the intangible force of emotional value (apart from taste value) influencing attitude towards street food.

This study aims to examine the factors of implementing istibdal waqf and generating cash waqf funds through istibdal in Penang. This study was based on the previous problem statements, stating that waqf property could not be developed due to lack of cash funds. This has allowed the study to explore the factors for implementing istibdal waqf property and the extent to which the istibdal method can generate cash waqf funds in Penang.

This study adopted a qualitative method by conducting semi-structured interviews to achieve its research goals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to comprehensively understand the current practice on istibdal cases in Penang State Islamic Religious Council (MAINPP) through official institutions concerned with waqf management practices in Penang. This research relied on purposive sampling to select the informants. It is a sampling strategy to select the informants in advance based on the research question. To achieve the purpose of this study, two officers from MAINPP were selected based on their working experience and specialisation criteria. As a result, several themes were successfully defined from the interview data before being analysed based on the content analysis method.

The results present three istibdal implementation processes outlined by MAINPP, namely, the istibdal implementation process for waqf land involved in the acquisition by state authorities (PBN), non-productive waqf land and istibdal applications from certain parties. The results also reveal two factors in implementing istibdal in Penang: the acquisition of waqf land by PBN and the application of istibdal for cemeteries by the Islamic Centre of Universiti Sains Malaysia. From the point of cash fund generation, no case of istibdal implementation records the generation of cash funds to MAINPP. Thus, this study ends with proposals for improving the process and implementing istibdal in Penang to generate cash funds to help MAINPP manage waqf properties.

The study only focused on implementing factors and generating cash waqf funds through istibdal in Penang. At the same time, it can be expanded to other states like Terengganu, Johor and Kelantan. This study only interviewed officers who manage matters related to the affairs of waqf properties. Therefore, it is believed that the study can be extended to other respondents, such as experts in cash fund generation investments and others.

This study proposed improvements to the policy and practice of istibdal waqf property to MAINPP after the shortcomings were identified throughout this study. If improved, these proposals will significantly impact the waqf properties involved in implementing istibdal, where it can generate cash and ensure the constant economic value of waqf properties.

This study has great implications for society through the development of a cash waqf fund that can provide great benefits to the needy, in addition to increasing funds for the welfare expenditure of Muslims through rental income, investment and development. Progress and significant impact on waqf property can provide a high indicator of the efficiency of an organisation in managing waqf property. This can attract the interest of the public, especially the wealthy, to always fulfil welfare through the waqf mechanism and share the wealth with the needy.

This study contributes to comprehensive field data on the implementation of istibdal in Penang. The data analysis results are significant to be used by the waqf property management.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential of Penang in being a dark tourism destination in Malaysia with the influence of urban tourism development.

A systematic review was conducted to serve as a foundation by highlighting the number of dark tourism studies conducted in Southeast Asia (SEA).

The results projected a total of 23 dark tourism studies conducted within the SEA region. These papers revolve around the following key themes that were conducted in these countries: tourists’ behaviour (motivation, satisfaction and experience), nation building and narratives, dark tourism development (management, marketing and implications), theoretical underpinnings and the role of dark tourism. Amongst these, it was found that tourists’ behaviour is the most studied with eight papers while the least is on nation building and theoretical underpinnings of dark tourism with three papers each.

The lack of dark tourism studies in SEA results in insufficient existing literature which justifies the need of exploring Penang as a potential dark tourism destination.

This paper builds on prior dark tourism studies that are significantly related to urban tourism but takes a step further by exploring the Asian settings. Specifically, into Malaysia which is more than just an SEA country, but a multicultural one which is rich and diverse with its culture and heritage that leads to many unique tourists’ destinations. This paper extends the geographical scope of the dark tourism literature as it focuses on Penang in Malaysia.

Pandemic like coronavirus (COVID-19) poses a major challenge to countries like Malaysia where tourism is one of the major contributors to the national gross domestic product. Pandemics observed through the years have not only presented a medical challenge but also had a large impact on the psychological well-being of society. Overcoming these challenges required a strategically structured response on the medical and social front. To achieve the said goal on the social front, it is necessary to understand the cognitive appraisal and response of the public during this stressful environment. The restricted movement control used to curb the further spread of the disease drastically hampered tourism in Malaysia. This study aims to follow a statistical analysis based on the cognitive appraisal theory to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the public residing in Penang Island which is one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world.

A cross-sectional, observational study design was carried out for this research. Snowball sampling technique was used and the data was collected via a semi-structured online questionnaire measuring the psychological health of people present in Penang Island.

The study reports a positive response in terms of disease awareness and proper observation of preventive measures, yet a high level of pandemic induced anxiety was statistically estimated. The study proposes mental health care initiative to help those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study reports a possible link between the mental wellness of the residents and domestic tourism in Penang Island during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this study is to unearth the factors that influence tourists’ revisit intention. The proposed model of the study is grounded on using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and extending it with additional variables, i.e. satisfaction, destination image, perceived risk, service quality and perceived value.

This study adopted a cross-sectional approach to collect data. The data were collected by conducting a field survey questionnaire on 330 respondents and were analysed using partial least squares version 3.2.9.

The results show that perceived behavioural control, perceived value, destination image and satisfaction significantly affect visitors’ revisit intention. The influence of perceived value, perceived service quality and destination image on satisfaction is also confirmed. On the other hand, satisfaction is found to be a significant mediator between perceived service quality, destination image and perceived value.

The extended TPB model that includes perceived service quality, perceived value, perceived risk and satisfaction provided a model with a theoretical basis to explain tourist revisit intentions to a tourist destination.

El objetivo principal del estudio es descubrir los factores que influyen en la intención de revisita de los turistas. El modelo propuesto para el estudio se basa en el uso de la teoría del comportamiento planificado y se amplía con variables como la satisfacción, la imagen del destino, el riesgo percibido, la calidad del servicio y el valor percibido.

Este estudio adoptó un enfoque transversal para la recogida de datos. Los datos se recopilaron mediante un cuestionario de campo en el que participaron 330 encuestados. Los datos se analizaron utilizando la versión 3.2.9 de PLS.

Los resultados muestran que el control conductual percibido, el valor percibido, la imagen del destino y la satisfacción afectan significativamente a la intención de revisita. También se confirma la influencia del valor percibido, la calidad de servicio percibida y la imagen del destino sobre la satisfacción. Por otra parte, la satisfacción resulta ser un mediador significativo entre la calidad de servicio percibida, la imagen del destino y el valor percibido.

El modelo TPB ampliado que incluye la calidad de servicio percibida, el valor percibido, el riesgo percibido y la satisfacción proporcionó un modelo con una base teórica para explicar las intenciones de revisita de los turistas a un destino turístico.

本研究的目的是揭示影响游客重访意向的因素。本研究提出的模型以计划行为理论（TPB）为基础, 并以额外的变量（即满意度、目的地形象、感知风险、服务质量和感知价值）进行扩展。

本研究采用了横断面的方法来收集数据。通过对330名受访者进行实地调查问卷来收集数据, 并使用偏最小二乘法3.2.9版进行分析。

结果显示, 感知行为控制、感知价值、目的地形象和满意度对游客的再访意向有显著影响。感知价值、感知服务质量和目的地形象对满意度的影响也被证实。另一方面, 满意度被发现是感知服务质量、目的地形象和感知价值之间的一个重要中介因素。

包括感知服务质量、感知价值、感知风险和满意度在内的扩展TPB模型为解释游客对旅游目的地的再访意向提供了理论基础。

关键词: 满意度; 旅游; 计划行为理论; PLS-SEM; 目的地形象

The fastest growing industry in the world is in the hospitality field that focuses on customer satisfaction. Part of this is the food service industry that has been improving its existence for the past years. In the hospitality industry, there are various kinds of businesses and one of them is street cuisine, which is not properly sanitised yet affordable and delicious. The researchers used various approaches to understand the tourists' perception on street cuisine, which are descriptive and quantitative. This research was conducted with millennial visitors in George Town Street, Penang, by using a survey questionnaire. Based on the results, the researchers found out that there are some differences in the perception on street cuisine stalls based on their demographic profile. This study confirmed that street cuisine in George Town Street, Penang, is recognised with its level of hygiene in preparation and with high consideration for its cleanness. In addition, this study also shows that street cuisine in the post-COVID-19 period in George Town Street, Penang, is recognised to have a high commercial value; therefore, more efforts must be engaged to boost its competitiveness in the market. Therefore, there is a need of full support from the Malaysian government, local authorities and local people in maintaining its quality and the preferences of George Town street in Penang as a tourism destination that provides heavenly street cuisine to all tourists in the world.

Various empirical studies have demonstrated that house prices in different geographic regions have a tendency to co‐move. But these studies have focused on developed economies in the west. The purpose of this paper is to test this hypothesis in the case of three major urban areas in the rapidly developing economy of Malaysia, namely Klang Valley, Penang and Johor.

Using Pesaran et al.'s bounds testing approach to cointegration and Granger non‐causality analysis, the short‐run and long‐run dynamics of regional house prices are analysed.

First, house prices in all three regions appear to be cointegrated. Second, there is evidence of short‐run bi‐directional causality between house prices in all regions. Third, long‐run house price movements in Johor are not Granger‐caused by house prices in Klang Valley and Penang. This observation could be rationalised in the light of the argument that Johor house values may be more closely aligned with activities in the Singaporean economy, given the region's geographic proximity to Singapore.

The findings have several practical implications for housing investors who intend to optimise investment decisions on housing purchases. The understanding of the nature of regional house dynamics could also enrich the government's knowledge of how the local housing markets work and enable the design and implementation of relevant housing policies.

This is the first known study that establishes stylised facts of lead‐lag relationships for regional house prices, while also providing short‐run and long‐run estimates of regional house price interactions for Malaysia.