PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES WITH ECOTOURISM

Ecotourism

• Travelling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with the specific objective of studying, admiring and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals as well as any existing cultural manifestations found in these areas.

• A nature tourism in which the traveler drawn to a destination because of his or her interest in one or more features of that destination’s natural history. The visit combines education, recreation and often adventures.

• Ecotourism use natural resources in a wild or undeveloped form including species, habitat, landscape, scenery and salt and fresh-water features.

A marine park is one of the ecotourism products that close to nature. In order to close to nature, there have some problems occur to the environment itself. There are several issue and problem that need to be facing by us.

Overcrowding and lack of awareness among visitors

The number of tourist play important role into the ecosystems industry and ecotourism development. The problems occur when the number of visitor is greater than environment capacity and ability to carry the capacity of visitor in one time.

Uncontrolled mass tourism in Sipadan Island is one of the good examples. The conservation of this island not managed properly and it will effects on the natural ecosystems and give negative effects on environment. Many problems occur when there was low awareness to the nature among the tourist, coastal communities, hotel/resorts operator tour guides and many people make the regulation easy to break by others.

The similar situations occur in Terengganu that popular with turtle nesting that mainly caused by overcrowding visitors at the beach area and coastal development activities. Then the fish feeding activities actually disturbed the natural feeding pattern and maybe will cause the unbalanced natural systems with the type of food introduced. The fish behavior also will change it a little bit cause changes in ecosystem because we actually disturbed the nature law.

Environmental degradation

Synonym with the tourism development, there was a hotel and chalet was built up to facilitate the visitors. It is one of the developments that prevent us from feels the nature. So, we can see the example in Tioman Island, there were resort was located near the beach that prevents the public to feel the nature. There was specelized to the people who stay in that resort in order makes the boundary between the visitors. The resort development also make the exploitation to the nature with the area have been clear to build up new home to the visitors. It actually disturbed the nature systems and give impacts on environment. We must see the long term effects to our nature, so we can play role to conserved it with high education on protecting our nature with conserve the environment with we all feel that nature and we deserved to get it. So, in order to feels the nature the awareness is a big task to carry in any conditions.

http://ecomalaysia.org/node/13