LANDSCAPE ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL ECOTOURISM IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Globally, tourism industry growing rapidly and ecotourism has been a focus in the developing countries due to high demand. However, a conflict occur when the tourisms resource was capitalize to earn high foreign exchange without compromising sustainability of those resources. This study aims to identify the potential of ecotourism activity in three study areas (Gua Madu, Ketitir Lake, Jedip Village) in Gua Musang, Kelantan, Malaysia for future sustainable ecotourism site planning. The integrated approach of landscape ecology and community-based management was applied in this study by using remote sense data of 2012, Geographical Information System (GIS) and landscape metric. This study found that Gua Madu is the most potential ecotourism sites with low patch number, high landscape patch index, high patch density and favourable ecotourism activity. This study helps ecotourism development towards reducing the overexploit of resources and secure ecotourism sustainability in future.