Towards a sustainable tourism management in Malaysia

AuthorSiti-Nabiha, A.K/N. Abdul Wahid/A. Amran/H. Che Haat/I. Abustan
PositionSchool of Management, University Sains Malaysia, Minden 11800 Penang, Malaysia/School of Civil Engineering, engineering campus University Sains Malaysia
Pages301-312

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Introduction

Tourism industry, a major contributor to the world economy, is continually growing at 4 to 4.5% annually (UNEP 2003). It has generated an estimated gross output of US$3.5 trillion and employing 207 million people in 2001 and expected to increase to US$7.0 trillion of gross output and employing 260 million by 2011 (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2006). The tourism industry contributed to economic development through among others, providing employment and business opportunities, infrastructure improvement and increased in foreign exchange and tax revenues.

Even though Malaysia is a relatively new entrant into tourism activities as compared to its ASEAN neighbours, the industry has grown tremendously over the years. By 2005, tourism industry is a key foreign exchange earner for Malaysia, contributing to over 40% of the country's balance of payment (EPU, 2006). The industry has provides an important source of income, employment and wealth to the country.

However, a massive influx of tourists can also cause adverse environmental impact due to increase in consumption of natural resources, consumerism and waste generation. An unsustainable tourism could lead increase in solid waste, degradation of heritage and cultural sites, reduction in biological diversity, destruction of wildlife and subsequently leads to river, lakes and sea pollution (APEC, 2002). Thus, it is not surprising that a palaeontologist has argued that tourist should watched nature on TV instead of going into areas of great biological important that cannot sustain large number of people (as quoted in Edmonds and Leposky, 1998).

Given the significant role of tourism in the economy and the potential benefits from it, there is a need to ensure that the tourism industry remains both environmentally and economically sustainable. In ensuring the sustainability of the industry, protection of the environment is of foremost importance. Furthermore, sustainable tourism development has

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become an important criterion in attracting tourists. For example, Miller (2003) in his research interviews with tourism consumers at a Destination Travel Show, found that environmental considerations is one factor used by customers in choosing tourism product as he explained below:

"Consumer are already making decision based on environmental, social, economic quality for day-to-day products and are keen to transfer these habits to the purchase of the tourism products" (Miller, 2003).

In view of the adverse impact of the environmental and cultural degradation on tourism products, the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism has formulated The Malaysian National Ecotourism Plan to ensure conservation of Malaysia's natural and cultural heritage. It also aims to maximize the economic, socio-cultural and environmental benefits that can be gained from the tourism sector. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues pertaining to sustainable tourism development in Malaysia. In so doing, the governmental tourism and environmental management policy, regulations and guidelines will be examined. The implementation of Local agenda 21 is also explained in the paper together with the problems of coordination and issues constraining sustainable tourism industry in Malaysia.

Sustainable tourism in Malaysia

A poorly planned and managed tourism development, besides being detrimental to the environment and the local communities, could result in decrease in market share (APEC, 1996). As a result, a more sustainable tourism development is needed. Sustainable tourism development has three inter-related major components, i.e., the environmental, economic and social cultural. It is defined by UNEP (2001) as follows:

"Sustainable tourism development meets the needs of the present tourist and host regions while protecting and enhancing the opportunity for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic need can be fulfilled, while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems", (WTO)(UNEP,2001)

Besides ensuring the preservation of the environment, tourism activities should preserve the culture of the local communities and provide adequate economic opportunities for the locals whilst guarding them against exploitation (Moore 1996, Leposky 1997). A sustainable tourism development should:

(i) optimise the use of environmental resources while preserving the natural heritage and biodiversity

(ii) respect the local culture of the host community through conserving the living cultural heritage

(iii) ensure sustainable and equitable economic operations and employment opportunities and social services to local community while contributing to poverty alleviation.

(UNEP, website)

Due to nature of the tourism industry, a sustainable tourism development should be based on coordinated actions between the different sectors involved (APEC, 2002). Constant monitoring of the impact of tourism is needed together with the use of preventive and

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corrective measures (UNEP, website). Integrated and meaningful multi-stakeholders participations from a broad spectrum of the host communities are needed. The partnership should be at the federal, states and local level and should be back by strong political leadership.

The role of the Malaysian government in promoting sustainable tourism is evident in the existing legal and institutional framework. There is evidence that indicate that Agenda 21 have been adopted in the national master plan. To speed up the development of tourism industry, the Malaysian Tourism Policy was formulated in 1992. The policy had identified ecotourism as one form of tourism to be expanded and sustained. It was followed by a more specific national ecotourism plan three years later. The National Ecotourism Master Plan was drafted in 1995 and was accepted by the government in 1996.

The national ecotourism plan was intended to provide a general framework to assist the government in developing the country's ecotourism potential. Under the plan, the definition of ecotourism follows that of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Ecotourism is defined as responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas in order to enjoy and appreciate nature that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people. As a result, quite a number of the tourism destinations in Malaysia as been gazetted terrestrial or marine protected areas in various categories such as forest reserves, wildlife reserves, sanctuaries, wetlands and marine parks.

In order to ensure the success of the eco-tourism plans, joint efforts between the various levels of government, the private sector and the local communities were planned and carried out to maximize the economic, socio-cultural and environmental benefits it has to bring. Although MOCAT (Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism) acts as a single coordinating body to spearhead the overall implementation of the National Eco tourism plan, the Ministry recognizes the imperative role of the private sector and specifies roles for all sectors of Federal, State and Local Authority (LA), private business, NGOs and other players, (APEC, 2002).

Under the 9th Malaysia a more integrated approach to tourism planning and management are to be undertaken (EPU, 2005) through preserving as well as enhancing the existing and natural and cultural assets. In addition, the role of the State Tourism Action Councils (STAC) will be further expanded to include regular monitoring and evaluating of project outcomes. At the local level, local authorities and communities are encouraged to have a more active role from the beginning of the projects so as to minimise environmental destruction. For businesses, such as hotels and resorts, they "will need to incorporate, among others, water and energy conservation as well as waste disposal aspects in the implementation, management and maintenance plans" (EPU, 2005, pg 201). More emphasis will be given to the preservation of the natural attractions to enhance eco-tourism as well as preservation of the heritage tourism such as historical sites, buildings and artefacts that are categorized under preservation of the natural attractions. In addition, more value added activities are incorporated in the agrotourisms and home stay programmes (EPU, 2005)

There are the arguments that sustainable tourism should not be left to market mechanism and industry self regulation but should be backed with policies and legislations. Thus, sustainable tourism needs to be backed by environmental policy and legislation.

Malaysia environmental policy and legislation

As earlier mentioned, tourism industry could lead to negative impact both to the environment and local population if not monitored. Malaysia is one of the 12 mega-diverse countries in the world that accepts the importance of preserving its social, environmental and cultural wealth heritage. Given that Malaysia is banking on the natural environment for the

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tourism attraction, various actions have been taken by Malaysian government to protect the environment.

The first initiative of environmental...

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