KUCHING: The editorial team of the Journal of Responsible Tourism Management (JRTM) has started preparing for its second issue in July, said Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He said the team was also getting the necessary indexing and abstracting ready, such as International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), Digital Object Identifier (DOI), Malaysian Citation Index, Scopus, and so on.
“I have every belief that the team will get all these done in no time and soon, we will celebrate more milestone successes.
“More importantly, by pulling our minds together through continual discourse and publications, by opening ourselves to one another to learn and work together, we can put tourism into practice in a responsible and sustainable manner.”
He said this was not just about recovering tourism activities but more about building it back better and making tourism beneficial to all stakeholders, including the tourism and hospitality sectors as well as the local community.
“I am sure that JRTM is not just an academic exercise, although I am aware that publication is important to university ranking and academic promotion.
“By working hand in hand with my ministry and international scholars, it is more about integrating our resources together to be more resilient as a global community and safeguarding the wellbeing of our future generations,” he said when officiating at JRTM Forum: Inaugural Publication of JRTM at UCSI Hotel here today.
Abdul Karim urged everyone to consider JRTM as a must-read journal.
“When our horizons are broadened by the evidence-based articles from all over the world, I am sure our views, judgement and decisions will be significantly improved.”
He noted that the first issue of the journal published featured seven articles from Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Japan — with more than 50 editorial board members from over 20 countries involved in the process.
Recalling that he launched the journal in August last year, he commended JRTM, a new journal, for achieving so much in such a short span of time.
Commenting on the forum, he hoped that the communication and collaboration between academics and industry players as well as locals and internationals would further upgrade knowledge and practices with regard to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and responsible tourism management.
At the same time, he highlighted the cooperation between UCSI University and his ministry over the last few years and lauded the university’s new and innovative ideas to improve tourism initiatives in the state.
“Even during the pandemic, they have never ceased working with my ministry and have always come up with something useful to complement what we are doing or plan to do.”
He hoped all stakeholders in the tourism industry would emulate such cooperation, trust, and commitment.
