LESS than 2% of the 4,794 travel and tour companies registered with the government derive their core business from ecotourism.

So should the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board continue to promote ecotourism overseas? The answer is yes.

At a forum on forests at the United Nations in May, Malaysia reported that 55.31% or 18.27 million hectares of its total land area was under forest cover.

Our hospitable weather, sandy beaches and tropical rainforests have drawn an average of 26 million foreigners a year from 2012 to 2019.

In 2019, the main activities of foreign tourists were shopping (91.2%), sightseeing (90.9%), visiting historical sites (31.9%), visiting museums (27.8%), islands and beaches (26.9%), theme parks (24.9%), entertainment and nightlife (23.4%) and swimming (22%).

Overall, less than 1% of the 26 million foreign visitors per year make use of tour operators for ecotourism services.

Meanwhile, domestic tourists travel to visit relatives and friends (42.3%), shop (35.4%), for leisure and holidays (9%), entertainment, special event and sports (4%) and medical treatment and wellness (4%).

Although domestic visitors spend a fair bit, tour operators have little to gain from domestic tourism as the majority drive their own vehicles or use public transport.

More than 68% of domestic tourists lodge with relatives and friends. Those who stay in hotels usually book directly without going through a travel agency.

Local authorities and state governments have been using the term “tourism” too freely. Whenever new roads were built to reach remote mountain streams or waterfalls, they were touted as another tourism project.

But without facilities for overnight accommodation, all visitors are just excursionists. And without a concessionaire to maintain cleanliness, the area would soon be strewn with rubbish left behind by picnickers and hawkers.

It would be disgraceful to promote ecotourism after many pristine sites in our jungles have been turned into garbage dumps infested with flies and rodents. 

When launching the natural resources ecotourism empowerment programme in Kota Baru recently, Energy and National Resources Takiyuddin Hassan said the government aims to brand Malaysia as a “top-of-the-mind ecotourism destination of the world”.

But what exactly is ecotourism?

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, ecotourism encompasses all nature-based forms of tourism in which the main motivation of the tourists is the observation and appreciation of nature as well as the traditional cultures prevailing in natural areas.

The International Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as responsible travel to natural areas that conserve the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education.

Both organisations mentioned traditional cultures and local people.

In 2019, there were 210,611 aborigines known as Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia. 

Will tourists get to see how these natives have lived in harmony with their natural environment for centuries? Or will visitors be witnessing indigenous people being displaced from their ancestral lands by greedy loggers and corrupt officials?

I have a simple definition of ecotourism: nature-friendly tourism.

In recent years, deforestation from logging have resulted in massive flooding as rainwater and forest debris are swept downstream.

Recently, Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin said his ministry had identified 5,500 flood hotspots across the country.

The following day, Takiyuddin announced that 186 forested and recreational areas at risk of water surges will be closed from November to January.

In any case, the majority of tour operators have little to gain or lose from ecotourism as almost all visitors engaged in leisure or recreational activities at natural sites could make travel arrangements themselves. – October 31, 2022.

* Y.S. Chan reads The Malaysian Insight.