Saporna et al., J Tourism Res Hospitality 2012, 1:3 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2324-8807.1000104 Journal of Tourism Research & Hospitality Research Article a SciTechnol journal the High-speed railway line links Kuala Lumpur to the Kuala Lumpur Foreigners’ Satisfaction on the International Airport. The monorail line in the country is used for public transport in Kuala Lumpur only. The Funicular railway line is Country’s Rail Services and operational in Penang. Its Impact on Their Stay in The rail network in Malaysia covers most of its states. In Kuala Lumpur, an extensive rail transport system links the major parts of Malaysia the city. The rail services available are the Putra and Star Light Rail Transit, KL Monorail, ERL and KTM Komuter. Five transit lines Gudelia C. Saporna1*, Ryan A. Claveria2 and Smitha Geetha1 are available in Malaysia that link major cities and places of interest within Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The LRT is provided by MY Rapid Company while Monorail by KL Monorail Sdn Bhd. On the Abstract other hand, the KTM Komuter is a city train under KTM Company, One of the factors looked into by a tourist or investor is the a corporation owned by the Malaysian government. Lastly, the ERL accessibility of transportation facilities at the destination. A country is operated by Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd. Feeder bus services are which has all the means of transportation has a competitive available from the train stations to designated tourist destinations. advantage. Thus, governments invest in transportation particularly All lines converge at the KL Sentral Station except the STAR LRT. on rail transit since it attracts more investments and tourists as well. Malaysia is one of the many countries which give emphasis The best to get around Kuala Lumpur very fast and avoid traffic on the role of rail transit in its development plan. Rail-based transit is to take Malaysia’s rail transport. It is fast, inexpensive and mostly is a necessity for modern cities like Kuala Lumpur (KL) due to its elevated metro system. With the increasing number of tourists, burgeoning population and number of tourist arrivals. Since the Draft Structure Plan Kuala Lumpur 2020 envisions turning KL into a the government studying the feasibility of expanding its route by world class city, the study is very timely. Moreover, there has been covering Damansara, Cheras, Kepong, Sri Petaling, Bukit Jalil and no specific study on the impact of rail services in Kuala Lumpur. many more areas. It is in this context that the researchers delve into assessing the satisfaction of the foreigners on the rail services and its impact in And since there has been no specific study on the impact of rail terms of their stay in Malaysia. The researchers made use of 130 services in Kuala Lumpur [1], the researchers delved into assessing randomly selected foreigners as their respondents. The results the status and level of satisfaction of the foreigners on the rail services of the study showed that the present status of the rail services in Malaysia. Likewise, the impact of rail services to them in terms of influenced the level of satisfaction of the foreigners on the rail their stay in Malaysia was also examined. transport. Likewise, foreigners’ satisfaction with the services of KTM and Monorail has positive impact to them in terms of their Related Literature stay in Malaysia. The researchers, in the process of their quest for the related Keywords: Status of rail services; Satisfaction; Foreigners; literature, jumped across national boundaries after finding limited Impact studies in Malaysia using books and internet. Though, the literature review focused more on the development of rail transport globally, Introduction still they provide a sound foundation for this research. Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia with an area of 243 Feifer [2] describes what some people thought about the km2 and a population of 1.4 million. Kuala Lumpur is the center of advent of rail travel as “the railway burst upon the 19th century economic activity in Malaysia with approximately 838,000 employed which revolutionized ideas about where and how humanity can people and 12.4% contribution to Malaysia’s total GDP. With the travel. Thundering, massive, belching smoke and hurtling along at rapid growth of vehicle approximately 8% per annum, the government unprecedented speeds, the train was a monstrous apparition across the embarked on major developments in transportation [1]. For the last gentle hills of England”. 10 years, developments of new rail-based transport systems like KTM The railways grew so fast in Britain. In 1835, the first express Komuter, LRT (Light Rail Transit) and the ERL (Express Rail Link) route was developed “Great Western Railway (GWR) linking London for the new International Airport were tangible. with the Seaport of Bristol. In 1841, the first rail tour was introduced To date, the rail transport in Malaysia comprises heavy rail, light by Thomas Cook who chartered train that run from Loughborough rail transit, monorail and funicular railway line. Heavy rail (including to Leicester in England. Because of the long distance involved, U.S. high-speed rail) is mostly used for intercity passenger and freight and Russia used train sleeping car in 1859 “The Delmonico” in U.S. transport. Light rail transit is used for urban public transport while In Europe, the Orient Express was introduced and ran from Paris to Istanbul. It was a sumptuous train with silk-walled carriages, mosaic- *Corresponding author: Gudelia C. Saporna, Senior Lecturer, School of tiled bathrooms etc. Likewise, a popular low-cost method of rail travel Hospitality, Taylors University Lakeside Campus, Malaysia, E-mail: GudeliaCruz. in Europe is the Eurailpass which provides the holder with unlimited [email protected] first class rail travel without any fast train surcharges in sixteen European countries. In Japan, super trains known as “bullet trains” Received: September 24, 2012 Accepted: October 03, 2012 Published: October 08, 2012 travel at a speed of 300 kph. On the other hand, Britain is using a All articles published in Journal of Tourism Research & Hospitality are the property of SciTechnol, and is protected by copyright International Publisher of Science, laws. “Copyright © 2012, SciTechnol, All Rights Reserved. Technology and Medicine Citation: Saporna GC, Claveria RA, Geetha S (2012) Foreigners’ Satisfaction on the Country’s Rail Services and Its Impact on Their Stay in Malaysia. J Tourism Res Hospitality 1:3. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2324-8807.1000104 unique form of transportation known as the railbus, a highway bus Prideaux [10], identified areas that are appealing to the tourists body on a railway frame and is powered by a turbo-charged bus when traveling by train such as speed, comfort, amenities and engine [3]. sociability. He pointed out those infrequent services, lack of reliability in keeping to the published schedules, slow nature of train travel led In the early 1970s, the U.S. Government established a private to a downward trend in the number of passengers taking trains in corporation known as Amtrak and the Canadian Government a Australia. In an investigation of the success of Queensland Rail by similar one known as Via Rail, to rent the tracks from the railway Prideaux [11] it shows that the development of promotional themes owners and run passenger trains on them. According to McIntosh to sell individual services, where a number of segments were carefully and Goeldner [4] Amtrak not only strive for profit but aims to nurtured, contributed to the customer’s satisfaction, which made the provide modern efficient intercity rail passenger service within the company received high customer satisfaction scores. nation’s basic rail system and employ innovative operating and marketing concepts to develop the potential of modern rail service In a study conducted by Edge Tourism Solutions [12], the in meeting intercity needs. Amtrak offers service to practically every following factors have contributed to the success of rail tourism major city in the United States. Many business travelers prefer to service operation in the world: high facility and service standards; take the trip by high-speed rail because of the high-speed service, importance of advertising media; innovation in the use of marketing spacious work tables and business amenities on board such as phones channels; the appeal and market position of rail transport and the and laptop outlets at each seat. In 1998, Amtrak and Via Rail Canada different price points in order to attract both the economy and joined forces and developed a rail pass (North America Rail Pass) for premium passengers. domestic and international visitors in the USA and Canada [5]. Another study conducted by Tennyson [13] shows that rail transit In Korea, the Korean Train Express, a high speed rail system had attracts higher ridership than bus when other factors are about equal. started its commercial service on April 1, 2004, with 300 kilometers Likewise, the expanded use of public transit can sharply reduce the per hour speed. Its goal is to provide additional rail capacity in Seoul use of automobiles and resulting pollution. and Busan corridor and acquire technology for high speed rail system. Case studies on the impact of new high-speed rail lines confirm With the commission of the KTX (Korea Train Express), both project that new travelers are attracted to it. More so, EU Commissioner goals were satisfied, they solved the problem of congestion due to lack has sketched vision in 2050 in which rail is the dominant mode for of transport capacity between Seoul and Busan corridor which is said long-distance transport and has also a strong position in regional to be the backbone of the Korean economy [6].