| Summary: | Residents in rural areas have an advantage in ensuring the sustainability of rural tourism. Their supportive behaviors displayed during the interaction with the tourists significantly affect tourists' experience, satisfaction, and loyalty. This study aims to investigate the issues in Malaysia’s rural tourism from the community's perspective or residents' perspective. Besides, the purpose of the study is also to explore possible community-supportive behaviors in the rural tourism landscape, especially in the eastern and northern parts of Malaysia. A qualitative approach based on a focus group discussion using semi-structured questions was employed to gather the relevant data. Semi-structured questions about issues and community-supportive behaviors in rural tourism were developed based on past literature. The data were verbatim transcribed and thematic analysis was performed using Nvivo 12 software. Thematic analysis was performed based on Braun & Clarke’s six-phase framework. The findings revealed that communities in rural tourism areas face three major issues: community awareness, promotion initiatives, and frustration with rural tourism development. The thematic analysis also revealed that communities are willing to support rural tourism by displaying several extra-role behaviors, such as supporting, protecting, and recommending behavior. Despite the challenges faced by local communities, they are willing to voluntarily support rural tourism by displaying a positive attitude. The findings could help tourism operators and authorized parties to plan relevant destination branding strategies to ensure the sustainability of rural tourism. ©2024 The authors.
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