Redzuan Othman

Thermal springs of Malaysia and their potential development

Abstract The study on the potential development of hot springs for the tourism industry in Malaysiawas conducted. Out of the 40 hot springs covered, the study identified 9 hot springs having a high potential for development, 14 having medium potential and the remaining 17 having low or least potential for development. This conclusion was arrived at after considering the technical and economic feasibility of the various hot springs. Technical feasibility criteria includes geological factors, water quality, temperature and flow rate. The economic feasibility criteria considers measures such as accessibility, current and market potentials in terms of visitors, surrounding attractions and existing inventory and facilities available. A geological input indicates that high potential hot springs are located close to or within the granite body and associated with major permeable fault zones. They normally occur at low elevation adjacent to topographic highs. High potential hot springs are also characterised by high water temperature, substantial flowrate and very good water quality which is important for water-body contact activities such as soaking. Economic criteria for high potential hot springs are associated with good accessibility, good market, good surrounding attractions like rural and village setting and well developed facilities and infrastructures.

Estimating tourism demand from China market to Malaysia

The arrivals of the Chinese people to Malaysia (Malaya) started since the early fifteenth century. At that time, they came as traders, seafarers and miners. The movements of Chinese people were very limited since at that time China was practicing a closed door policy with foreign countries. Thus, communications to and from China were very minimal. However, in 2001, the Chinese government had implemented an open door policy by participating in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Chinese government had opened its economy to foreign investors through foreign direct investment by providing them various incentives. The beginning of 21st century saw an increase in the inbound and outbound movements of the Chinese people. By 2005, China was among the top 5 most visited global destinations. Similarly, outbound Chinese also increased and Malaysia was among their most popular choice. In 1990, only about 107.6 thousand Chinese tourists visited Malaysia. By 2006, however, this figure had increased to about 457.8 thousand; which was the highest number of foreigners outside the ASEAN region. This research tries to identify and estimate the importance of major economic factors that influence the increase in Chinese arrivals to Malaysia. Among other factors that could induce their arrivals are tourism price, traveling costs, income and informal promotion. The Asian economic crisis and the outbreak of SARs also have been included in order to understand how the short-run shock affecting their demand for Malaysia. Cointegration technique of Vector Error Correction Model (ARDL) is utilized to statistically estimate the importance of these variables in this research.

A comparison of local community sustainability of livelihood: A case study in Redang and Tioman Islands, Malaysia

In order to conserve and protect marine life, the Government of Malaysia has gazetted a total of 40 islands as marine parks. All activities that disrupt the stability of the marine eco-system are prohibited. This includes fishing which is the main occupation of communities on these islands. This policy had negatively affected the livelihood of the communities. This research analyzes and compares the case of communities of Pulau Tioman (TIMP) and Pulau Redang Marine Parks (PRMP). The analysis on livelihood sustainability is based on the perceptions of locals after the islands have been gazetted as marine parks. The five standard of living indicators which are human, physical, natural/environment, social, finance as well as threats/ uncertainties towards socio-economic changes were analyzed. The results show that in general, both the livelihood of both communities are satisfied in terms of human, physical and social assets. However, they lack satisfaction on the financial and natural/environmental aspects. The education element also needs to be addressed as there are still school dropouts among the children of these island communities. Nonetheless, the locals are still safe from socio-economic threats/uncertainties and disease outbreaks/disasters. In comparing the RIMP and TIMP, it is found that the TIMP community has better sustainable livelihood than that of the RIMP locals.