Author/Authors :
Ahmad, Habibah Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - Fakulti Sains Sosial Dan Kemanusiaan - Pusat Pengajian Sosial,Pembangunan dan Persekitaran, Malaysia , Jusoh, Hamzah Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - Fakulti Sains Sosial Dan Kemanusiaan - Pusat Pengajian Sosial,Pembangunan dan Persekitaran, Malaysia , Choy, Er Ah Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - Fakulti Sains Sosial Kemanusiaan - Pusat Pengajian Sosial, Pembangunan Persekitaran, Malaysia , Buang, Amriah Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - Fakulti Sains Sosial Dan Kemanusiaan - Pusat Pengajian Sosial,Pembangunan dan Persekitaran, Malaysia , Selvadurai, Sivapalan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - Fakulti Sains Sosial dan Kemanusiaan - Pusat Pengajian Sosial, Pembangunan dan Persekitaran, Malaysia , Zainuddin, Nur Farahin Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - Fakulti Sains Sosial dan Kemanusiaan - Pusat Pengajian Sosial, Pembangunan dan Persekitaran, Malaysia , Abdullah, Mohd Kamarulnizam Universiti Utara Malaysia - College of Law, Government and International Studies, Malaysia , Samsir, Sri Winarni Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - Fakulti Sains Sosial Dan Kemanusiaan - Pusat Pengajian Sosial,Pembangunan dan Persekitaran, Malaysia
Abstract :
Border tourism is one of the growing sectors in international borderland management. The Malaysia-Thailand border, which strikes from Padang Besar/Perlis - Padang Besar/Songkhla Province to Rantau Panjang/Kelantan -Sungai Kolok District/Narathiwat Province has several sites of tourism attractions and products. It ranges from an organised border shopping town to a small scale and informal tourism services. As a result, border tourism is filled with a complex structure of tourism providers and divergence of tourists’ needs and interests. This situation further complicates the image of border tourism, hence, making a border tourism management a big challenge. This paper aims to identify what are the diverging and converging issues of border tourism in the Malaysia-Thailand borderland. Based on the preliminary study using a mix method in December 2012 to April 2013, results of the study reveal that diverging issues include the unclear image of border tourism shared with the tourism providers and lack of understanding of border tourism among stakeholders. The converging issues, on the other hand, are the social and cultural ties and localisation of the border community. Suggestions on managing border tourism that intercept the diverging and converging issues concluded this paper.
Keywords :
border tourism , cohesion , conflict , Malaysia , Thailand , safety , shopping
