Happy Global Tourism Resilience Day!
Tourism is in the news again. It’s Global Tourism Resilience Day on Saturday (more below), which is a nice juxtaposition to recent local happenings.
Just a few days ago (11th February), the Malay Mail carried an article with the headline, “Tourism Malaysia confident of achieving the target of 27.3 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2024, says DG”.
I think we’ve had this discussion before!!
Sustainable tourism can contribute to the three dimensions of sustainable development and the achievement of the SDGs.
The problem with that number of tourists
First, we need to look very carefully at those numbers. There’s no question that COVID had a huge impact on tourism numbers – goes without saying. But even pre-COVID, I would argue that the numbers just didn’t add up, and I suspect they still don’t.
Digging around the topic, I found an article in The Star on 3rd December 2023 which quoted visitor numbers for 2023. Of a total of 26 million tourist arrivals to Malaysia from January 1st to November 15th, “the most number of tourists were from Singapore at 12.6 million”.
So, here’s a simple fact-check for you.
Divide that figure by 365 and then 24, and you have 1,438 people arriving from Singapore every hour of every day last year. If they are tourists and arriving from Singapore via JB, that would require 36 forty-seater buses leaving JB every hour…about one every 2 minutes. I’ve travelled from Singapore to Malaysia, and it can get busy…but not THAT busy!
are they all tourists?
Ok, there are a couple of assumptions in there, but you get my drift. The point is: are they all tourists? And if not…how many actually ARE tourists, and how many are crossing the border – either way – to work?
This has great importance for the tourism industry, because if we are planning for 26 million but only getting (say) half of that, then –
our tourists are worth twice as much as we thought they were, yet we run the risk of not meeting the expectations of people who are actually spending more than we realise; but on the other hand
we are building infrastructure for twice as many people as are coming, with all the impacts that has!
This leads to a second and more important point: with all the emphasis on the numbers of tourists, rather than the economic value they generate, I fear we are missing out on some critical questions.
Such as: what do tourists want?
There are plenty of surveys about tourism trends – and many of them say that people are looking for less crowded, more “authentic” experiences. And yet, we are hearing already about crowding at some destinations.
Such as: what impact does tourism have on communities and ecosystems?
Mass tourists create crowded streets in KL – and crowded beaches on the islands. More waste; more physical impacts. To what extent can the islands and their ecosystems withstand this constant onslaught?
Our waste management programme on Mantanani Island was started to tackle the lack of waste management on the island.
Such as: who is tourism for?
Did anyone ask the people living in those tourist attractions, such as the islands off the East Coast, what they want from tourism? Do the people of Tioman want new resorts? Do the people of Perhentian want a seaplane facility? Do the people of Semporna want hundreds of tourists flocking through the town to visit – fleetingly – the islands?
Villagers of Kampung Paya, Tioman Island, celebrated the success of the ‘No New Tioman Airport’ campaign.
Such as: what’s the cost-benefit analysis?
Is our tourism model economically worthwhile, or is it just creating lots of money for big businesses…but low-level jobs for local communities? What different models are available, and should we be looking at investing in high-end, eco- and sustainable tourism models? After all – Malaysia is a mega-biodiverse country; maybe people will pay handsomely to come and see those attractions…but in small groups, of course!!
The Green Fins standard for dive shops is an example of a sustainable tourism module.
who is in charge of tourism?
And finally – who is in charge?
Who is monitoring the numbers of tourists visiting fragile ecosystems, who is assessing the changes that result – to both ecosystems AND communities; and who is asking – how many is enough?
At the end of the day, all I’m saying is this – and I know I’ve said it before but I think it bears repeating: whatever tourism model Malaysia decides to adopt, let’s do it with eyes open and an understanding of the positive AND negative influences of tourism.
If we want to adopt a “mass-tourism” model, let’s be honest about the impact that is going to have – that way, we can at least mitigate some of the negative impacts.
what does tourism resilience mean?
And ironically – this Saturday, 17th February, is Global Tourism Resilience Day.
Given that tourism is an important piece of the economy in Malaysia, and given its documented impacts on “people and place” – host communities and the ecosystems they live in – I was interested to read about what resilient tourism is and why it is important.
For many countries, tourism is a major source of income, foreign currency earnings, tax revenue and employment. Because tourism connects people with nature, sustainable tourism can spur environmental responsibility. Sustainable tourism can contribute to the three dimensions of sustainable development and the achievement of the SDGs.
Global Tourism Resilience Day (17 February), proclaimed by the UN General Assembly, aims to emphasize the need to foster resilient tourism development. In this way, tourism – and the benefits it brings – can be insulated from shocks and emergencies, allowing it to recover more quickly.
We just had a bit of a shock.
As Malaysia’s tourism is fast recovering, should we be asking whether it is resilient? Are we planning to build back better, and develop a tourism industry that is sympathetic to people and place? Or will it be more of a business-as-usual approach, with all the attendant challenges that brings?