The Impact of Ecotourism in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia: Tourist Perception on Its Environmental Issues

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: Hassan, Mohd Sayuti | Syed Azhar, Sharifah Nurlaili Farhana^{; *}

Affiliations: Centre for Global Sustainability Studies (CGSS), Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding Author. sh.nurlaili@gmail.com

Abstract: Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia (TNNP) is widely known for its famous ecotourism destination in Malaysia. Many developments have taken place over the last decades. However uncontrolled development has caused serious environmental damages in the area and concerns visitors. The paper is designed for relevant stakeholders and TNNP management in order to refine their policy inputs to improve tourist perception of TNNP in accordance with the 2030 Agenda. The main objectives of the study are to explore visitor’s perception on environmental issues in TNNP, the main issue and how it affects their number of tourist revisit. Three methods employed in the study are surveys, interviews and document analysis. The study received favourable feedback and valuable input from respondents. Contamination of Kuala Tahan River was identified as the main environmental issue in TNNP. As a result, majority of visitors will not revisit TNNP if environmental issues in the area remain unsolved.

Keywords: Perception, ecotourism, national park, environmental pollution, sustainable development, Malaysia

DOI: 10.3233/AJW-170029

Journal: Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 85-89, 2017