Development and challenges of agritourism in Malaysia
2014
Mazlan, N. | Abdul Shukor Juraimi
Agritourism began in Malaysia in 1991 as a tourism diversity activity to improve the country's economy. It was included in the Sixth Malaysian Plan (1991-1995), wherein Malaysia's national tourism plan was formulated to increase tourist arrival in the country. This plan was successfully implemented and Malaysia has been in the top 10 countries with the highest number of international tourist arrival since 2006. At the beginning, most agritourism sites were usually in the form of introducing plants and animals, and are only known to local tourists and cater to team-building and recreational activities. With the support from government sectors in marketing and promotion, there are many activities and packages that attract visitors, including farm stays, pick your own, farm animals, fishing and homestay. Agritourism activities are run by private sectors and local communities. As many agritourism activities involve rural areas, the involvement of local village communities is important to ensure the success of a program and to get return from investment. One of such program is Homestay, which has a successful program of increasing farmer/fisherman income and at the same time, introducing the local culture to visitors. Although tourism has become the second source of income from foreign exchange in the country, the percentage of agritourism contribution is still low compared to other tourism sectors.
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