Ecotourism development and local community participation: case studies of Batu Puteh and Sukau village in Lower Kinabatangan area of Sabah, Malaysia

The issues of ecotourism development in Malaysia, which could benefit the local communities in remote areas, were rarely mentioned in the federal government’s tourism policies. The issues that were mentioned are often limited to factors such as supplementing income in (eco)tourism activities which was regarded as a priority, but never beyond that. This was the dilemma in the early phase of the implementation in the 1990s of sustainable (eco)tourism development in Malaysia, particularly in the state of Sabah. This is a qualitative research approach or specifically case study approach based on the critical theory paradigm or perspectives. Two villages were observed in this research: namely Batu Puteh village and Sukau village. These villages are located in the floodplain of Lower Kinabatangan River. This area is an extremely important site for ecotourism in Sabah and/or Malaysia: especially through ecotourists activities such as river boating, jungle trekking and wildlife viewing. The local people generally known as “orang sungai” (the river people) have recently participated in many aspects of ecotourism activities such as tourist guides, conservation volunteers, tourist lodges workers, homestay providers etc. Thus the main issues for these villages are: to what extent does ecotourism development in Batu Puteh and/or Sukau village have positive and negative impacts on the socio-cultural life of the local community? How and why are the local communities involved directly or indirectly in ecotourism development? To what extent has ecotourism development increased the level of participation, and improved the standard of living of the local community? To what extent can ecotourism be considered a potential instrument for rural economic development and/or environmental conservation to achieve sustainable development in the destination areas? These issues will be explored thoroughly in this research