Page 858 - MARSIUM'21 COMP OF PAPER

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FINAL YEAR
PROJECT AHIBS JANUARY 2021

UTM SKUDAI

A CASE STUDY OF ZOO NEGARA’S WEBSITE AND CHESTER
ZOO’S WEBSITE

SYAFIQAH AQILAH BINTI SHAZMY, NOR ZAFIR BINTI MD SALLEH

Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru

*Corresponding author: syafiqahshazmy@gmail.com, zafir@utm.my

Abstract (Not more than 200 Words)

Tourism has become a major economic activity in the world. Now, a website is playing a crucial role in an organization, particularly tourism
businesses. The usage of electronic devices and the internet has increased among children. Furthermore, their preferences are relevant in
the choice of tourism destination. Zoo Negara is an attraction in Malaysia. The Zoo Negara organization is currently enduring a significant
website gap. Hence, this paper will identify the deficient website features of the National Zoo compared to the Chester Zoo website among
young visitors in order for the National Zoo can take action and improve their website in the future as well as determine the young visitors’
experience while browsing the website. An observation checklist was used for data collection as a comparison with Chester Zoo due to its
efficient website design, and 15 checklists were collected among young visitors from 8 to 12 years old. The finding shows that Zoo Negara
has a flaw in terms of website design, information quality, and interactivity. The study discussed that young visitors do not have a great
experience while browsing the website. This research may help Zoo Negara to improve its website in the future time.

Keywords: Website features, user experience, tourism website, young children

■ 1.0 INTRODUCTION

Tourism has become a major economic activity in most regions of the world, in Malaysia, the number of tourist arrivals to Malaysia by 2020
was declined by up to 83.4 percent, or 4.33 million, compared with the previous year, which was 26.10 million (Tourism Malaysia, 2019).
The study by Strategic Planning Division, Tourism Malaysia found that 71.3 percent of respondents preferred to travel domestically rather
than abroad in a survey titled Domestic Travel in Malaysia after Movement Control Order (MCO) prepared by Tourism Malaysia and 50.9
percent believe traveling within Malaysia is safe after MCO (Tourism Malaysia, 2020). This indicates the domestic sector is expected to
grow in the post covid era.

According to Fernández-Cavia et al. 2014, the internet has increased economically, mostly in tourism industries around the world in
obtaining, interacting, and influencing the audience to purchase and use the online platform. Websites are now the most significant public
communication portal for the majority of businesses (Garett et al., 2019). With a current rising global estimate of 7.8 billion, roughly 4.93
billion people have internet access. In other words, the internet is used by 63.2 percent of the world's population (Broadbandsearch, 2021).
Correspondingly, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal, 2021, 89.6 percent of Malaysians use information and
communication technology (ICT) services and equipment. Gathering information regarding products or services is among the most common
online activities, which is equivalent to 85.4%, as stated in (Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal, 2021).

According to Morris (2016), in 2015, 66% of children aged 3 to 14 used the internet and among children, aged 8 to 11, 41.5% of the children
were found to use the internet as mentioned by eMarketer in 2014. Being born in the digital era, the current generation of youths residing in
urban areas in Malaysia is reportedly exposed to the internet since the age of 5 years old (Nik et al., 2021). Internet Survey User, 2020
mentioned that the worldwide lockdown due to the pandemic had caused the number of time children spent online to skyrocket. 48.0% of
children in the USA were spending more than six hours per day online, an increase of 500% from before the crisis (Parentstogether
Foundation, 2020). The same thing occurs in Malaysia. Dr. Norazah, an expert stated that children spent most of their days with electronic
devices, and rarely have outdoor activities which have been aggravated by the MCO (Mazlan, 2020). IUS 2020 also stated that children from
5 to 17 years old who use the internet have grown by 155% since 2016 (MCMC, 2020).

■ 1.1 CASE DESCRIPTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM

Malaysia was the tenth most famous vacation spot in 2012, with 25 million tourist arrivals (United Nations World Tourism Organization,
2013). Kuala Lumpur (KL) is a major tourist attraction in Malaysia. It is the principal entry point for both domestic and abroad travelers

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