Characterisation of coastal landscape characters for tourism route : case study of Gebeng-Kuala Terengganu coastal route

Abstract

The Federal Government of Malaysia has initiated the National Rural Physical Planning Policy 2030 also known as the Dasar Rancangan Fizikal Desa Negara 2030 (DPF Desa Negara 2030) which aim to strengthen the inclusivity towards a fair society by transforming the rural areas and elevate the welfare of the rural community parallel with the 11th Malaysia Plan. The notions are in line with the 2nd mission of the National Landscape Policy which is to ensure the natural resources are used optimally, maintained, preserved and conserved by sustainable management systems, especially for tourism purposes and heritage preservation. Parallel to the nation’s agenda to become top 20 country in the economic development, social and innovation advancement, it clears that rural areas also plays a vital role in helping the Government to fulfill its missions. However, DPF Desa Negara has not listed a particular measures to assess rural landscape characters as the existing checklist delivered in the Rural Tourism Master Plan (2000) is conceivably outmoded. Rural landscape comprises of distinctive qualities of characters including its community that must be celebrated and fostered as the number of residents and the economic level increases. However, rural attractions are seldom being tied together to facilitate and encourage multi-destination visits (Hamzah & Ismail, 2008). As a result, it leads to less attractive journey for tourists to experience when they engaged with self-drive tourism. The aim of this research is to establish a Model of Rural Landscape Corridor (RLC) for tourism route planning in Malaysia to conserve and integrate the physical, cultural and environmental features of the rural landscape with tourism activities. The objectives are: (1) to identify and integrate the landscape features with tourism activities, (2) to investigate the tourists’ needs, experiences and expectation of the designated area and (3) to propose a corridor which comprises of rural landscape and attractions in rural areas. The site selected for this study is a Pahang – Kuala Terengganu stretch, a portion of Johor – Kelantan coastal route which is the Federal Route 3, also known as AH18, one the oldest roads in Malaysia. The limitation of the study area serves to give a focus to the study as the Pahang and Terengganu coastal areas share the similar geographical characters. The research carried out three methods (1) observational mapping along the study area, (2) questionnaire survey distributed among the 200 local residents and visitors along the route, and (3) semi-structured interview with two representatives from private-owned east coast tour guide firms. This research has found out that to establish a coastal drive through the E3 Federal Route, the main components that makes up a holistic travel journey are: (1) waterbodies (2) various types of tropical vegetation (3) diverse recreational sources and (4) major infrastructures. As overall, the vegetation, natural features, built environment and settlements, activities and senses, infrastructures, heritage and history and accessibility are vitals characters for coastal and rural tourism route. In conclusion, the policy makers, planners and tourism operators, tour guides should cooperate with the local communities to achieve an optimum tourism measures to elevate tourism attractions in the rural route.