FINAL VERSION FOR APPROVAL - Sdn Bhd - WWF Malaysia

Gunung Stong State Park Preliminary Management Plan
rates could be an indicator of the popularity of the accommodation, and help determine the
potential of additional rooms.
Training should be conducted in collaboration with KESEDAR, as much of the area
surrounding GSSP is within the auspices of the agency, and the agency is also involved in the
human development of the settlers through the provision of training and aid to small
businesses (see section 2.7).
6.19.2 Integration of Agro-Tourism in the Promotion of GSSP
The villages surrounding GSSP are replete with local fruit trees such as durians and
rambutans. During fruiting season from June to August, there is a glut of fruits, resulting in
low prices, and one strategy to alleviate this is to integrate agro-tourism in the promotion of
GSSP.
The “all-you-can-eat” concept (where visitors pay a certain sum per person to eat fruits at the
orchards) can be introduced in the surrounding area, even as an extension of the homestay
programme, during the fruit season. Active promotion of agro-tourism packaged as part of
the tourism package for GSSP will improve the standard of living among villages through
improved sales of their fruits.
As in the homestay concept, steps to introduce villagers to the concept could be as follows:
(i) Invite interested villagers for a meeting, outlining the concept and the conditions
for participation (eg. orchards well-maintained, provision of huts for rest and
shade).
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
Obtain a list of potential operators.
Provide short-courses in hospitality training, and especially on cross-cultural
sensitivities, as visitors may not necessarily be Malays.
Provide small, soft-loans for fencing, huts, and fertiliser.
Establish and maintain a registry of participants, which is reviewed annually.
Promote the concept to city-dwellers and tourists through the hotel and
guesthouse network.
The attractiveness of agro-tourism to the villagers will depend on their expectations of
success, and initially, there may be few participants. However, success may encourage other
orchard owners to join the programme. As with the homestay concept, training should be
carried out in collaboration with KESEDAR.
6.19.3 Operation of Small Souvenir and Camping Equipment Shops
As in the case of the hospitality industry, the local communities are capable of capitalising on
opportunities, with little or no prompting from authorities. Currently, BAT Guides offer T-
shirts for sale, but the demand is not encouraging, perhaps due to the unattractive design or
the high price (RM20 per piece). There is also a part-time entrepreneur in Dabong that sells
small, hand-carved, wood pieces and some paintings to tourists, but the demand is too small
as yet to turn it into a full-time business.
There are, occasionally, requests for camping gear (camping gas, solid fuel, hammock), but
the demand is too low to support full time entrepreneurs. It is foreseen that when the demand
gets more frequent, some sundry shopkeepers will respond to the demand and initially stock
souvenirs and limited amounts of camping equipment for sale or rental, and eventually
increase these stocks in response to increased demand. The time may come when someone
finds it profitable enough to operate shops specialising in souvenirs and camping supplies, but
this is unlikely to happen within the 5-year implementation period of this plan.
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