Pulau Pangkor as a tourist destination – An inquiry into visitors’ perception and satisfaction

Because of its multiplier effect on accessibility enhancement, infrastructure and general economic development, the continuous progress of tourism in Pangkor Island had received the Malaysian government’s full support and various incentives. The focus of this research is to identify the perception and level of satisfaction among visitors to Pangkor Island based on the concept of carrying capacity and environmental impact of the island’s tourism sector. It was found that that the threshold of tourists’ dissatisfaction occurred especially during peak seasons. This implies that there is a limit to the carrying capacity of the island’s tourism beyond which further changes and increament could not be facilitated. It also implies that since it was only too easy for this limit to be exceeded the island was veritably on the verge of environmental degradation, as facilities became saturated and visitors’ enjoyment diminished. These are all important pointers to the challenge of forging a sustainable development of the island’s tourism industry.