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Kinabalu Park is located in the state of Sabah on Borneo Island. The park is situated at the
northern tip of the Crocker Range, which forms the backbone of mainland Sabah. Established in
1964, Kinabalu Park covers an area of 75,370 ha. The park is managed by the Sabah Parks
Board of Trustees (or Sabah Parks for short) in leasehold for a period of 999 years free from all
liabilities and encumbrances under the Parks Enactment, 1984 (Ali et al. 1990). It is graded as a
Type II protected area according to the IUCN category system. The most significant feature of
the park is the majestic Mount Kinabalu, which soars up to a height of 4,095.2 m.
The mountain is the highest peak between the Himalayas and the high mountains of New
Guinea, as well as a prominent peak in the South East Asia region. The park is located at Mile
35 on Ranau Road, which is easily accessible by road from other parts of Sabah, as a good
sealed road links the park headquarters to the Sabah state capital Kota Kinabalu, an
approximately 2-hour drive (ca. 90 km). There are seven stations within the park namely Park
Headquarters (Park HQ), Poring Hot Spring, Mesilau Nature Resort, Serinsim, Monggis, Sayap,
and Nalapak. Of all the stations, Park HQ, Poring Hot Spring and Mesilau Nature Resort are
open to visitors, while Serinsim, Monggis, Sayap and Nalapak serve as sub-stations, and are
primarily the bases for regulation enforcement and research purposes (Figure 1.3). In terms of
climate, Kinabalu Park is characterized by a dry period from February to May as a result of the
southwest monsoons and wet period from October to January due to the northeast monsoons.
The local climatic features bright early mornings followed by clouding at mid-morning, which
covers the mountain by mid-day and usually brings showers to the upper slopes in the
afternoon. Nights are generally clear.
The average annual rainfall is around 4,000 mm and the average daily temperature around 20o
C at the Park HQ at an altitude of 1,560 m a.s.l. and 15-18o C at Mesilau Nature Resort 2,000 m
a.s.l. At Panar Laban / Laban Rata (3,344 m a.s.l.), the average temperature ranges from 2o C
to 10o C and can drop to below freezing at night. Occasionally, ice forms on the summit
plateau. At Poring Hot Spring (500 m a.s.l.), annual rainfall is around 2,500 mm with lowland
temperatures of 25o -30o C. Geologically, Mount Kinabalu is considered young. The geological
processes involved in the formation of the mountain began about 9 million years ago and the
current height was reached about 1.5 million years ago. The mountain continues to rise by
about 5 mm per year. The whole of the summit plateau was overlaid with glaciers until about
10,000 years ago, which can be seen by the numerous cirques, moraines and deep gullies.
Kinabalu Park is managed by Sabah Parks.
The accommodation, restaurants and souvenir shops are managed by a private operator, Sutera
Sanctuary Lodges (SSL), and transportation facilities by a cooperative organization, KOKTAS.
KOKTAS has been managing the transportation services, which transfer climbers from the
reception office to Timpohon Gate (the starting point of the Park HQ summit trail) since 1987.
The accommodation, restaurants and souvenir shops were outsourced to the private sector in
1998, when a privatization program was first introduced to the Sabah Parks system. Mountain
guiding service is provided by the members of local communities, who are licensed and under
the management of Sabah Parks. Porters providing services to climbers are also from the local
communities. They also provide services to SSL and help to carry goods to Laban Rata (3,314 m
a.s.l.), the last stop on summit trail which is equipped with restaurants and accommodation
facilities. Kinabalu Park is a meeting place for the continental Asian (mainly Himalayan and
Chinese elements) and the Australian (southern hemisphere mainly Australian and New Zealand
elements) genera of plants. A total of 5,000 to 6,000 vascular species (about 1,999 genera and
210 species) are to be found in the park. Of these, no less than 140 families of flowering plants
(e.g., 1,200 wild orchid species) and a large number of ferns (612 species), mosses, liverworts
and fungi (450 species) occur. Orchids, pitcher plants, rhododendrons and Rafflesia are among
the most significant plants found in Kinabalu Park (see Woods et al. 1993; Wong and Phillipps
1996, Beaman and Beaman 1998; Phillipps and Liew 2000; Beaman et al. 2001; Beaman and
Anderson 2004). The park’s high biodiversity and high percentage of local endemics, especially
flora, is closely associated with its wide altitudinal ranges from around 150 m to over 4,000 m.
Introduction 25 Kinabalu Park has been identified as one of Malaysia’s centers of plant diversity
and designated as a Center of Plant Diversity for Southeast Asia (UNESCO WHC 2007). It is
described as ‘a unique morphology that is different from other elevated plateaus in the wet
tropics’ (Komoo 1997). It is also one of the world’s 13 hotspots for biodiversity and one of the
234 sites that have been designated as the primary centers of plant diversity in the world. An
analysis of the global distribution of species diversity of vascular plants has further recognized
the significance of Kinabalu Park in terms of the diversity of its flora by declaring it as one of
the six highest diversity centers in the world (Barthlott et al. 1996; Martin et al. 2002). The
biodiversity richness and conservation efforts in Kinabalu Park have gained significant
international recognition. In 1999, the director of Sabah Parks was awarded the Fred M.
Packard WCPA-IUCN award in recognition of his contribution to nature conservation and the
protected area movement in Malaysia. One year later, Kinabalu Park was declared by the
UNESCO World Heritage Committee as a World Natural Heritage site after meeting selection
criteria ii and iv (Sabah Parks 1998; UNESCO WHC 2006). Criterion ii concerns outstanding
examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution
and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of
plants and animals, while Criterion iv concerns the most important and significant natural
habitats for in-site conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened
species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation. In the
same year, the journal ‘Asia Week’ named Kinabalu Park one of Asia’s best managed forest
reserves.
The identification and evaluation of tourism attractions/resources is a foremost requirement in
tourism planning (Gunn, 1994; Inkeep, 1991; Pearce, 1995). Furthermore, understanding the
interrelationships and interactions of the different elements and components of the tourism
supply side is an inevitable step in creating more valuable destination products (Pearce, 1997).
Thus, a thorough consideration and inventory of knowledge of how the components of tourism
planning are integrated is essential to enhancing tourism destination competitiveness. According
to Inkeep (1991), the components of tourism planning and development can be classified as
tourist attractions and activities, accommodations, other tourist facilities and services,
transportation facilities and services, other infrastructures, and institutional elements. These
components can also be described as “the framework of explaining the total natural and socio-
environment from which they derive, the markets of international and domestic tourists that
they serve, and the area residents’ use of the attractions, facilities and infrastructures” (p. 40).
The income generated from tourism is channeled to Sabah Parks at two levels. Firstly, at state
level, where SSL and KOKTAS pay the concession and lease to Sabah Parks HQ based on their
2
operations within the entire park system in Sabah, and secondly, in the form of entry fees and
user fees at site level. During the early years, the tourism revenue in Kinabalu Park was
collected in the form of user fees such as the sale of souvenirs and the use of accommodation
facilities. Entrance fees were first introduced in 1991 to generate further income. Sabah Parks
directly collects the entry fee, which is known as ‘conservation fee’. User fees are the fees levied
on visitors for using the services in the park. There are two types of user fees in Kinabalu Park,
namely fees for facilities and fees for activities. Facilities fees include accommodation,
restaurants, souvenir shops and transportation. These fees are collected by the respective
parties (e.g., accommodation, restaurants and souvenir shops revenues are collected by SSL,
and transportation fee by KOKTAS). Activity fees include levies on the visits to the mountain
garden, slide shows, canopy walkway, guided walks, mountain climbing permit, etc. These fees
are collected by Sabah Parks. As for mountain climbing, apart from the climbing permit, the
hiring fee for the mountain guides is passed on to the climbers. This fee is collected by Sabah
Parks on behalf of the mountain guide prior to the climbing. A multi-tiered pricing system is
practiced, stratifying the domestic and foreign visitors as well as youth under 18 years.
Mountain climbing is the most significant income source in Kinabalu Park. In 2005, climbing
permits made up 43% of the tourism revenue in the park. Together with climbers’ certificates
(5.6%), mountain climbing contributed 48.6% of the total income generated. This was followed
by conservation fees, at nearly 35%, and the entrance fee to the canopy walkway at 6%
(Figure 3.6). Other sources of tourism revenue consisted of charges for cameras and videos
used on the canopy walkway, and fees for slide shows, butterfly farm, mountain garden,
bathtub, orchid conservation center entrance fee, sales of parks VCD and publications, etc.
The significant contribution of the climbing permit to tourism income in Kinabalu Park
apparently resulted from the multi-tiered pricing system for the foreign climbers, who had to
pay a much higher fee, i.e., RM 100 per climbing permit compared to RM 30 for domestic
climbers. This rate took effect in 2002. Before 2002, RM 50 was levied on foreign climbers and
RM 25 on domestic climbers (Berita Harian 2001b; Daily Express 2001e). Apart from climbing
permits, the conservation fee was also increased in 2002, from RM 3 to RM 15 for foreign
visitors, RM10 for foreign visitors under 18 years, and from RM 2 to RM 10 for domestic visitors.
The increased fees also explain the sharp rise in tourism income in 2002 (Figure 3.4).
Interviews with the key personnel of Sabah Parks HQ disclosed the fact that one of the reasons
for the increase in fees in 2002 was the result of the introduction of the privatization program.
The author was told that the private operator had been facing problems regarding financial
turnover since the introduction of the program, and the operator was incapable of paying the
lease to Sabah Parks as agreed under the concession agreement. Thus, the increase in entrance
and user fees within the Sabah Parks system in 2002 enabled Sabah Parks to sustain its
financial status.
In coping with the rising number of visitor arrivals and expectation on tourism facilities, a
privatization program was introduced to take over the management of accommodation and
catering facilities in Kinabalu Park in 1998. While the management of facilities were privatised,
all tourism activities were still managed by Sabah Parks. The program was introduced to
improve the quality of tourism facilities in Kinabalu Park and to reduce the administrative,
3
manpower as well as financial burden of Sabah Parks thereby enabling the organisation to focus
on conservation activities.
Because The analysis results of the budget allocation to Kinabalu Park indicated that the park
management has not shift its focus to nature conservation after the privatization program [11].
Tourism income generated in Kinabalu Park was substantial. As at 2005, a total of RM5.5million
was collected from tourism activities at the destination. Nonetheless, the major part of the
allocated budget was still used for tourism-related development. In 2005, 47% of its budget
was used for tourism-related development instead of investing into research and education
activities and for staff training, which are the important components of nature conservation. In
addition, despite of the privatisation of tourism facilities, Sabah Parks remained as the park
authority but failed to set up monitoring system to evaluate the ecological impacts of tourism,
after being released from the administration and manpower burden in managing tourism
facilities. This is especially crucial along the summit trail, in which the trail has been ascended
by more than 20% of its total number of visitor arrival every year and nothing that the park has
been the home to a number of endemic flora species. Although Sabah Parks has introduced
several tools such as creating honey pots, dispersing use, managing carrying capacity to control
the human impacts in the park, the effectiveness of these tools in regulating tourism impacts is
unknown.
The efforts of conserving nature and meeting tourist satisfaction must be made in meeting the
socio-economic principles of tourism development. While tourism generates economic income to
the park, it depends on the outstanding natural features to survive. Enhancing tourist
experience quality in a park have positive influence on the revenue generated, which benefits
the local communities in terms of job provision and also provides improved financial
performance as a basis for human resource development and conservation advancement. If
Kinabalu Park is to meet the principles of sustainable tourism, Sabah Parks must first enhance
its educational elements in enhancing its tourism development. In addition, efforts must be
made to negotiate with SSL to come to an appropriate level of price charged to the tourists.
Nature conservation is a key justification for many parks worldwide.
The analysis result in Kinabalu Park reveals that although Sabah Parks has been released from
managing the accommodation facilities; they do not further enhance the financial allocation into
activities such as staff training and research activities which are pre-requisite for conservation.
Furthermore, the educational elements were not given appropriate attention by the park
management despite there is a rising demand on the quality and quantity on environmental
education and information provided by the park. The absence of tourism impact monitoring
system is also an issue to be overcome. Without the monitoring system, it is hard for the park
management to access the long-term human impacts on flora and fauna along the summit trail
which is very ecological sensitive and also to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing tourism
impact management tools. In meeting the tourist satisfaction, Sabah Parks has substantially
invested into tourism activities but the quality of activities and guides especially the educational
elements must be improved. Besides, there was no feedback obtained from tourists to examine
the tourist overall experience as well as strengths and weaknesses of park management in
various sectors. This has thwarted the efforts in understanding the tourist needs in the park
thus the expectation of tourists may not be met. On the other hand, SSL has significantly
4
improved the quality of accommodation facilities provided in Kinabalu Park. Nonetheless, the
analysis results reveal that it is unable to meet tourist satisfaction because of the skyrocketed
pricing introduced.
Involvement of stakeholders, particularly the locals is very important [15], and it is best to leave
the matter of conservation techniques to them since they are traditionally associated with the
area and cultural heritage asset itself. On management and stakeholder’s aspect, a few issues
had been identified such as directions, objectives and approach adopted by stakeholders for the
management of the cultural heritage area. Some of the areas have more than one stakeholders
and it might cause conflict among them, since each stakeholder work within its own scope,
roles, funding and policy. Bukit Jugra, known as popular heritage sites, has valuable assets that
need to be managed carefully, but there are still weaknesses to be seen, indicating that the
experts have not performed their task to the optimum, poor maintenance and lack of control of
the expert appointed
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