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Introduction
The tourism sector is experiencing a tremendous growth over the decade. Likewise, many tourists are seeking for places in authentic and sustainable holiday experiences to rest and relax (Buffa, 2015). With the decline of traditional agrarian industries, various tourism stakeholders (i.e. local communities, government and industry players) have recentered their focus on rural tourism due to its potential as an alternative solution to generate income (Ruiz-Molina et al. , 2010; Moric, 2013). In fact, rural tourism has been recognized as an imperative tool to improve local welfare and standards of living (Peptenatu et al. , 2009; Pröbstl-Haider et al. , 2014; Aliman et al. , 2016). In this regard, some researchers propounded that rural tourism development should be community-based and involved a wide range of community resources (Cawley and Gillmor, 2008). Although rural tourism has been growing over the past decade, there is a number of challenges experienced by the tourism destinations. Past studies have observed an increased competition among tourism destinations (Chen and Gursoy, 2001; Zainuddin et al. , 2013; Ramseook-Munhurrun et al. , 2016) to attract more international and domestic tourists (Chon et al. , 2014). Furthermore, Adeyinka-Ojo and Nair (2016) also highlighted the growing importance of clearly postulating the destination appeals of a tourism destination to maintain their position in the tourism market. As a result, the study on rural tourism destination competitiveness is getting much concern from tourism stakeholders (Cimbaljevic and Bucic, 2015), and countless efforts have been taken by past researchers to examine and identify factors to develop rural tourism destination competitiveness.
According to Briedenhann and Wickens (2004), tourism is one of the major tools to boost up economic conditions of Malaysia and it is an aid in improving the living standard of the local people. The unique characteristics of rural tourism in Malaysia are the diverse background, values and cultures of the indigenous people (Lo et al. , 2013). For a long period of time, rural tourism is one of the main focuses under the Malaysia Development Plan to increase job opportunities and widen the source of income of the indigenous community (Nair et al. , 2015). In Malaysia, especially in the state of Sarawak, homestay is one of the major achievement indications for rural tourism. Total...