This paper explores the significance of a rural region, the village of Panchor, as a potential nature tourism site located in Johor district of Muar, Malaysia. The study's objectives were (1) evaluating local community funding, and (2) evaluating the participation of local government. Three overlapping topics were explored based on qualitative interpretation of an interview and open-ended answers in the questionnaire: (1) group connection, (2) economic benefits, and (3) environmental attitude. The findings revealed that river-based tourism could improve the socio-economic status and the sustainability of rural areas. It also addressed the consequences and limitations of the study in this report. Keywords: Community Attachment; Economic Gains; Environmental Attitude; River-based Tourism eISSN 2398-4295 ©2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers (AMER); Association of  Behavioural Researchers on Asians / Africans / Arabians (ABRA); Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies (cE-Bs), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ajbes.v5i19.191

This paper examines the significance of a rural area, Panchor village town, as a potential nature tourism site in the Muar district of Johor, Malaysia. The objectives of the study were (1) to evaluate local community support and (2) to assess local community involvement. Based on qualitative analysis of an interview and open-ended responses in the questionnaire, three interconnected themes were: (1) community attachment, (2) economic gains and (3) environmental attitude. The findings revealed that river-based tourism development could stimulate the socio-economic status and the sustainability of rural areas. This study also discussed implications and limitations of the research.    Keywords: Community Attachment; Economic Gains; Environmental Attitude; River-based Tourism eISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bsby e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5i14.2236