Closed For Rehabilitation

Whether it was intentional or unintentional, the beauty of these popular destinations saw their assets damaged almost beyond repair requiring drastic measures

- Jerrica Leong

Tourism is one of the biggest industries that determine the popularity of a country. In fact, for many countries like Greece and Spain, the tourism sector is the sole bread winner that keeps the country afloat. In Malaysia, the 2019 statistics read a 16.9 percent increase in tourist visitors in just the first quarter compared to 2018. This means that in the first three months of 2019 itself, Malaysia had already welcomed a total of RM21.4 billion in tourist expenditure. The presence of increasing tourism could mean that more visitors, which also translates to high foot traffic and a temporary high number of population in a certain location.

The choices of these city tourists will see visitors to our country either paying a visit to the museum or making a beeline to the most popular shopping districts. Some are even eager enough to wake up early just to line up for a chance to get onto the Twin Tower Bridge! But the same cannot be said about the tourism systems that promote natural habitat in the outskirts of our cities. Throughout the years of increasing tourism businesses, we also saw the damage that tourists brought to our country’s many getaways whether it was intentional or unintentional. Sipadan Island was the first tourist destination that started showing signs of damage to the eco-system in the country prompting the government to impose a limitation on the number of visitors to the paradise island.