(Preliminary Study on the Potentiality of Adventure Tourism Among Teenagers in Malaysia)

This preliminary study. involving 125 respondents drmvnfrom institutes of higher educations in Malaysia attempts to determine the interests and involvement of young adults or teenagers in the adventure tourism activities. The gaps between the two constructs are also measured to determine the potential of the tourism sector. This studyfound that Malaysian young adults are interestedparticularly in the backpacking and cycling activities but the level of involvements in almost all activities under study are far below than the level ofinterest shown. The results also revealed that the largest interest-involvement gap is found for the diving activity. This study which employs questionnaire survry also examines the influence of the push-pull motivational dimensions in order to develop the most idealpromotional strategy to target the young adults market. Among the most influential push/actors are for pleasure and for sports while the three most important pulling factors are those related to the natural environments attractiveness. The respondents also reported that the existing adventure tourism products and services in Malaysia are not well managed and promoted apart/rom the high participation costs.