ISLAND TOURISM

DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA:

ECOTOURISM, ECOTERRORISM

OR

EGOTOURISM?

Sunrise at Pulau Redang

Lecture Outline

• The Attractions and Physical Attributes of Islands

• Ecotourism as a development strategy for islands

• Tourism and its physical, economic and socio-cultural effects on islands

• Is island tourism in Malaysia any different from mass tourism?

• Model for island tourism development.

The Allure of Islands as Tourist Destinations

• Isolation

• Relaxed atmosphere

• Natural attractions – the three ‘s’ – sun, sand and sea

• Natural beauty and difference from mainland

Islands developed for Tourism

Attractions of Islands in Malaysia

• Pristine corals

• Crystal clear waters

• Rich marine life

• Dive sites

• Relatively undeveloped and natural state

• Unique plant and animal communities

Tourism as a Panacea for Economic Ills

Problems of:• Isolation• Small physical and population

size • Narrow & limited resource

base, Thus, tourism is regarded as a

panacea for the economic difficulties of many islands

Characteristics of Malaysian islands to be considered in tourism development

• Small physical area

• Fragile ecosystem

• Limited resources of fresh water and flat land

• Sandy beaches are few and isolated

• Small population size - e.g. Langkawi - 60,000, Perhentian -1,274; Tioman - 3,039 in 2000.

• Thus, the economic, social and environmental impacts will be more pervasive

• Ecotourism an appropriate form of tourism development?

Physical sizes of selected islands (in sq km)

Langkawi (Kedah) 478

Penang 293

Tioman (Pahang) 134

Redang (Terengganu) 26.7

Tinggi (Johore) 15

Aur (Johore) 14

Besar (Johore) 12

Perhentian Besar (Terengganu) 9.5

Perhentian Kecil (Terengganu) 5.7

Sibu (Johore) 4

Lang Tengah (Terengganu) 1.8

Islands and Ecotourism as part of the National Tourism Strategy

• Ecotourism highlighted as one of the tourism products in Malaysian Plans.

• Only 24 islands have facilities for overnight stay• Most tourist islands are gazetted as Marine

Parks/Marine Protected Areas under the Fisheries Act 1985. Environmentally disruptive activities are not allowed within a 2 km radius of the island.

• a Cabinet Committee established in 2000 to coordinate and monitor the sustainable development of islands.

Ecotourism – Its Growing Importance

• Fastest growing tourism sector generating USD 200 billion annually. Malaysia earns more than RM655 m per year (WWF Malaysia).

• Growth Rates of 10 – 25 per cent growth reported in Asia Pacific

• 2002 declared as ‘International Ecotourism Year’ by UN

As many definitions as there are players, Encompasses everything out of doors, save blood

sports? Would a good walk in the woods qualify you as an

ecotourist?

Ecotourism – Some Workable Definitions

• Tourism with ‘low impact’ on the environment and which contributes to the local economy.

• ‘responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people’ (International. Ecotourism Society)

• ‘nature-based tourism that involves education and interpretation of the natural environment and is managed to be ecologically sustainable’ (The Australian Commission on National Ecotourism Strategy)

Seven defining points in Martha Honey’s definition

Based on ‘Ecotourism and Sustainable Development’:-

• Involves travel to natural destinations

• Minimises impact

• Builds environmental awareness

• Provides direct financial benefits for conservation

• Provides financial benefits and empowerment for local people

• Respects local culture

• Supports human rights and democratic movements

The Ten Commandments of Ecotourism (American Society of Travel Agents)

• Respect the frailty of the earth• Leave only footprints. Take only photographs • Educate yourself about the geography, customs, manners and

cultures of the region • Respect the privacy and dignity of others • Do not buy products made from endangered plants or animals • Always follow designated trails • Learn about and support conservation-oriented programs • Walk or use environmentally-sound methods of transportation • Patronise those (hotels, airlines, resorts, cruise lines, tour

operators and suppliers) who advance energy and environmental conservation

• Encourage organisations to subscribe to environmental guidelines

ECOTERRORISM?

• Successful ecotourism implies maximising environmental and economic benefits while minimising ecological damage and disruption to local communities.

• Criticised as an eco-façade, a label to be used as a marketing tool.

• By greenwashing unsound practices, ecotourism qualifies as ecoterrorism (Anita Pleunmarom, Third World Network Features)

• Turtle watching becomes turtle harassing?

Ecoterrorism in Malaysian islands:

Tourist Activities

• Jungle trekking• Snorkeling damages

corals as tourists step and grab on fragile corals

• Evidence of coral bleaching in islands

• Corals beyond the rim of the fringing reef damaged by propeller strikes of speedboats and boat anchors.

Ecoterrorism:

Impacts from Tourist Facilities

• The larger impact arises from stresses on the environment in accommodating the physical needs and comforts of tourists.

• Trash, living accommodations, access and communication routes.

Berjaya Redang (Main wing 1991) – powdery white sand

Land cleared on slopes for extension to Berjaya Redang (2002)

Ecoterrorism:

Transport• Jetties/boat channels

dredged e.g. Teluk Dalam in Perhentian Besar

• Air strips – Redang (RM22 m; Tioman – RM150 m for Boeing 737). Involves hill cutting and land reclamation

• RM40 m marina in Tekek, Tioman for 50 yachts a year.

• Road system in Tioman linking east and west coast.

Construction of the ‘controvesial’ marina in Tekek, Tioman

Ecoterrorism:

Resort Development

• Sandy beaches do not abound in islands but are confined to certain bays.

• Islands are hilly. Flat land constitute only 4.4 % of Tioman’s physical land area.

• Early development is concentrated in the sandy beaches.

• 70 resorts (1,700 rooms) in Tioman; 33 resorts (732 rooms in Perhentian)

Beach

No. of

Chalet

No. of Rooms

Salang 10 227

Air Batang 15 230

Tekek 9 599

Paya 4 131

Genting 11 245

Lanting/

Nipah

3 68

Mukut 7 101

Juara 10 112

TOTAL 69 1,763

Accommodation in Tioman 2004

Density of resort development on sandy beaches e.g. Pasir Panjang in Redang where the 212 room Laguna opened in April 2003, doubling the room capacity of the 8 existing resorts

Tourism development in Tioman restricted to certain sandy bays only

Resort development on rocky outcrops or steep gradients

When beach front flat land is no longer available, chalets are developed further inland (e.g. Salang in Tioman) or on rock outcrops (Cozy Chalet in Perhentian, Kg. Salang in Tioman)

Abandoned hillslope resort in Salang, Tioman

Impiana in Perhentian Kecil

Panuba in Tioman

Dept of Town & Country Planning Guidelines (1997) prohibits development on slopes of more than 20o gradient on marine park islands.

A clear violation of this ruling is the unapproved/ abandoned resort in Kg. Salang, North Tioman which includes a swimming pool

Ecoterrorism:

Tourist Recreational Facilities

• Golf courses and swimming pools places a huge demand on a resource lacking in islands - water.

• Water consumption in tourist resorts is 7x higher.

• Swimming pools even in small islands such as Perhentian Besar, Redang, Tinggi, Sibu Tengah. In the case of Layang-layang water is barged in at RM35,000 per shipment of 1 m gallons requiring a journey of 38 hrs.

Swimming pool at Laguna Redang

Island Golf Courses

• Started as a game in Scotland 500 years ago on land which is naturally watered.

• In the tropics, an artificial ecosystem is created.

Tourism Concern, a London-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that promotes sustainable and participatory tourism, describes the sport as ‘one of the most unsustainable and damaging activities to people and the environment’. Land and water are being taken away from rural communities to build landscaped courses for the rich.

Island Golf Courses

• The damage is compounded by the luxury homes, hotels etc which accompany the courses. Golf used to market resorts. ‘The Ultimate Golf Getaway” (Tioman).

• 19 golf courses on Malaysian islands. A typical 18 hole course requires 1-2 m litres of water/day.

• Compare this with the capacity of the 28 km submarine pipe costing RM 26m to Redang is only 1.8 m litres/day The Ultimate Golf

Getaway

Ecoterrorism

Pollution• Discharge of sewage and garbage disposal• Septic tanks tend to overflow during

monsoon season because of flooding.• Rubbish disposal either through open

burning or transported to mainland• Water in Perhentian showed presence of

coliform (with faecal origin) that can be linked to domestic effluents from chalets & village. Well water in Perhentian Kecil recorded high counts of total and faecal coliform with a MPN (most probable number) of 300 per 100 ml (Takushi 2000).

• E. coli levels in the waters off Berjaya in Tioman is 90x above the standard (Utusan Konsumer 1994),

The Economic ImpactThe case of Tioman• In Tioman, the first resort (373

room Merlin Inn) was developed in Kg. Lallang in 1965.

• Tourism has surpassed traditional economic activities since the 1980s. Seafood now imported.

• Tioman Development Authority established on 19 Nov 1997.

• Declared a Marine Park in 1985 and Duty Free Island on 1 Sept. 2002.

Langkawi – percentage in agriculture/fisheries declined from 63 % in 1987 to 19 % in 1999.

Berjaya Tioman Suites

Paya Holidays, Tioman

Social Impact

• In extreme cases, the relocation of existing settlements e.g. Kg. Lallang in Tioman and in Redang (for Berjaya Resort).

• Negative social effects negligible because of:

(i) isolation of resorts and little interaction

(ii) differences in communication

Contact mostly with service providers.

Budget Chalets in Tioman

EGOTOURISM• Ecotourists cause as much damage as the

conventional tourists wearing Bermuda shorts. Powerless to minimise the impacts and given a chance, would not anyway (Duffy 2002). ‘The only good tourist is the one who stays at home’.

• Novelty seeking tourists with hedonistic pursuits, and even snobbery as they pretend to rough it out. Travel acts as a ‘marker’ of social position. Prestige and ego-enhancement achieved from the exclusiveness and rarity of ecotourism.

• Self denial of luxuries is to demonstrate to themselves that they can cope with the hardships they do not face at home (Duffy 2002).

Egotourism

• Ecotourism can be and is usually a variant of mass tourism. Ecotourists want to believe that their vacationing does not have the same impact as mass tourists. What differentiates the ecotourist from the mass tourist is not the ETHICS of travel but the DESTINATION.For example, golf tourism is in conflict with island tourism development and is ecologically difficult to justify – an exclusive and elitist activity engaged in by egotourists.

• Ecotourists to Malaysian islands are no different from conventional (mass) tourists who are motivated to travel for ego-enhancement or to live out their fantasy (Dann 1997)

Egotourism in Malaysian islands - Official Policies

• Emphasis on increasing tourist numbers (particularly those with high per capita expenditure) not quality or responsible tourists. Pulau Sipadan is the only case where daily visitors are limited to 80/day and where no permanent tourist structures are allowed after February 2005. Recent uproar over building of diving facilities and support infrastructure.

• Construction of tourist facilities (airports, international resorts etc.) and measures such as granting duty free status to Tioman in September 2002 are targeted at encouraging a longer length of stay and enticing more tourists.

Year Total Tourists

Domestic

(%)

Foreign

(%)

Length of Stayl

Occupancy Rate Receipts

(RM 000)

1995 166,046 21 79 4.5 51.0 108,345

1996 172,850 28 72 4.2 68.1 108,896

1997 182,649 28 72 2.5 47.7 70,776

1998 200,209 42 58 3.5 46.4 112,117

1999 185,944 40 60 2.0 42.5 61,362

2000 200,527 36 64 2.5 36.0 85,224

2001 243,052 53 47 3.0 39.3 127,602

2002 212,872 56 44 3.0 45.0 95,927

2003 172,787 74 26 2.5 45.0 86,394

2004 248,625 74 26 3.0 36.7 124,513

Source: Tioman Development Authority

Tourism Indicators in Tioman, 1995-2004

Tourist- Host Ratio:

• Tioman – 80:1;

Perhentian at least 25:1Virgin Islands 9.3; Bahamas 5.4, Bermuda 7.5 (Voon 2000)

• Tourist numbers are only limited by the availability of rooms or ferry seats

(e.g. in contrast, Bhutan accepts only 2,400 tourists per year and each tourist is required to spend a minimum of USD200 a day).

A MODEL OF ISLAND TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

• Planned and orderly development that will maximises the benefits and minimises the negative effects.

• A form of development characterised by small resorts and local community participation.

• A strategy that refrains from merely considering tourist numbers only but also the types of tourists, and the activities allowed or disallowed.

CONCLUSION

• The present pattern of development is inconsistent with the limited resources of the islands.

• ‘Tourism sows the seeds of its own destruction’.

A Sunset industry?