Rainforest wildlife: A key element in Sabah’s destination appeal

Introduction The aim of this research was to investigate the relationships betv,een destination product, wildlife value, satisfaction, loyalty and wildlife conservation awareness in Sabah. Wildlife, as Harwood and Noske (Chapter 20) and Musinguzi, Tukamushaba, Katongole and Obua (Chapter 19) observed, is often a major pull factor for rainforest destinations. However, as Koichi points out in Chapter 18, feral wildlife may cause considerable damage to the environment and detract from the rainforest experience. Understanding issues related to visitor satisfaction are therefore important. Sabah has approximately 4.4 million hectares of forests, ranging from coastal lowland forests to mountain-top montane forests. This large area of forest provides many opportunities for wildlife viewing (Empau and Ayim, 1994; Hutton, 2002). Located on the island of Borneo, Sa bah is recognised as one of the world's 12 most important mega-diversity sites (Chan and Yeoh, 2001) and the only site that continues to contain all of Borneo's remaining larger mammals: the Bomean orangutan (Pongo pygma.eus morio), the proboscis monkey (Nasalis laroatu.s), the Bomean elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis), the Bornean banteng (Bos javanicus wwi), the Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinos sumatrensis harrissuni) , the Sunda clouded leopard ( Neofelis diardi) and the Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) (Goossens and Ambu, 2012) .