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Humanities
- ISSN: 2155-7993
- Journal of Modern Education Review
The Impact of Tourism on the Marine Environment of Small Islands: The Case of Pangkor Island, Malaysia
Ahmad Masduki Bin Selamat, Murugadas A/L Ramdas Chelamuthu, Mohamad Sobri Bin Suhaili
(Politeknik Mukah Sarawak, Malaysia)
Abstract: Tourism is one of the leading contributor to service industry in Malaysia and is gradually growing. Tourism industry in Malaysia was given a more important spot in the country’s administration with the establishment of Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism in 1987. The growth of this industry brings impact towards the environment, specifically the environmental attributes of islands. The most visible impact around the small islands would be to its marine biodiversity such as coral reefs and fisheries. This paper reviews closely on the impact of tourism to the environmental attributes of Pangkor Island. Pangkor Island as one of the leading small island tourist destination faces increasing number of tourist and development. This increase and development lead to impact on environmental attributes of the island. Excessive admittance of tourists to this island with unmonitored activities could also bring possible damage to natural forest trails exist. Soil erosion, imbalance to the habitats of flora and fauna and piling up of rubbish are some of the effects that occurred. It has been reviewed clearly that tourism has brought impacts to the environmental attributes of Pangkor Island due to the increase in the number of tourist and infrastructure development. A possible solution to address the problem would be implementing the concept of willingness to pay. It is suggested that an investigation to the Willingness to Pay (WTP) may serve as a way to compensate these impacts.
Key words: tourism, islands, environmental issue, Pangkor Island, Marine biodiversity
