Cherating, Malaysia - Collaborative for Sustainable Tourism and

Life Cycles and Resilience:
Cherating, Malaysia
Alan A. Lew, Ph.D., AICP
Northern Arizona University
Editor-in-Chief, Tourism Geographies
AlanLew.com
GSP 599 – Tourism Research
12 November 2014
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Scale, Change &
Resilience in Tourism Places
Resilience Issues
Tourism Scale
1. Facilities & Service
Maintenance
2.
Large
Tourism Slow
Change
1.
Small
Tourism Slow
Change
4.
Large
Tourism Sudden
Shock
3.
Small
Tourism Sudden
Shock
Change Rate
2. Climate Change &
Globalization
3. Major Attraction or
Market Loss
4. Nature & Human
Disasters
Scale of
Resilience Entities







Individual
Family
Business
Community
Society / Country
Ecosystem / Bioregion
Planet
Kampung Setiu Lama, Terengganu, Malaysia
“Persistent Resilience”:
coping with the mundane
pressures of social &
economic transformation
Vulnerability : the opposite of
resilience
Slow Change, Small Scale in Cherating, Malaysia
 Cherating Village
 Small, Laid-back Fishing Village
 Nice, wide Surfing Beach; Asia's 1st Club Med
 Many Guesthouses & Small Hotels (Chalets)
 1973 - residential houses started to be
converted into chalets
 some residence (fishermen) moved away
from tourist areas (beach & highway)
 Also driven out by coastal erosion
– common on East Coast of Malaysia
 Early 1990s – tourism became main source of
income for most in the beach area
 Backpacker Tourism = major income source
 1999 – 42 houses rented rooms to tourists
Cherating, Malaysia
Cherating
Chalets
Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) Model
 Internal (Slow Change)
 Seasonality
 Low tourist arrival
 Location disadvantage due to
new development
 Lack of family support
 Lack of government support
 Old age
 Ill-health
 Death of owner
 External (Fast Change)
 Economic Crises
 Iraq war
 September 11th 2001
terrorism
 Diseases and endemics
Decline Factors
Consistent Stability & Growth & Bounce Back Factors
(Slow Variables)
 Government Support
 Family Support
 Collaboration & Partnerships
 Property Ownership
 Property Location
 Enhanced Promotion
 Introduction Of New Activities
 Improved Facilities & Services




Wireless services
Meeting rooms
Bars/restaurants
Mosque
Management Resilience in Cherating
1. Tourism area separated from Non-tourism area
 Self-zoning based on nuisance impacts
2. Need for continuous market development (Slow Variables)
 New & Specialty/niche products
3. Global events influencing local economy (Fast Variables)
4. Business lifecycle of small enterprises related to the
entrepreneur’s life expectancy & descendants (Slow Change)
5. Availability of alternative options for economic livelihood