SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AT PERHENTIAN ISLAND, TERENGGANU

The marine park is one of the main tourist attractions in Malaysia, especially in the category of maritime tourism and special interests. The diversity and the natural beauty of the marine park at Pulau Perhentian, Terengganu, had successful attracting tourists from all around the world. The island is known for its marine activities like swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving because of its clear and saline water. This situation will lead to the need to form a sustainability tourism development to maintain its natural environment and ecosystem so that tourists will be able to enjoy the natural beauty offered on the island. This process of sustainable development also minimises the damage that had been done to the existing ecosystem in the isle. Therefore, the sustainable development concept is crucial to sustaining every aspect of the tourism related program, specifically on islands such as Pulau Perhentian. The implementation of the National Ecotourism Plan (NEP) in 1997 by The Ministry of Tourism and Culture to cover the aspects of marine parks and islands remains crucially important towards sustainable tourism development in Malaysia.