The Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for Students’ Preferences in Tourism Destination Selection

Abstract

Selecting the right destination for tourism is an important decision-making process to ensure that it will meet tourists' needs and satisfaction. The objective of this paper is to determine the preferences of students in selecting a destination in Malaysia for the factors (criteria) that influence the selection of tourist destinations. This study applied the Analytical Hierarchy Method (AHP) approach. AHP is one of the techniques under Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) in the field of Operational Research. The criteria that influenced the selection of tourism destinations are 'value for money', 'safety', 'natural beauty', 'entertainment', 'historical and cultural sites' and 'adventure expedition'. Five regions of Malaysia that have been chosen as the alternatives in this study are 'Northern Region', 'Central Region', 'East Coast Region', 'Southern Region', and 'East Malaysia Region'. The result discovers 'value for money' is the most influential criteria in the tourism destination selection. 'East Coast Region' happens to be the most desirable destination in Malaysia followed by 'Northern Region', 'East Malaysia Region', 'Southern Region' and 'Central Region'. It can be concluded that 'East Coast Region' has a lot to offer from students' perspectives. The findings of this study may assist relevant authorities and travel agencies to enhance and improve the quality of their services cater to different tourists' preferences.