Sustainability Measurement for Ecotourism Destination in Malaysia: A Study on Lake Kenyir, Terengganu

Sustainable tourism uses the resources of an area and attempts to create a balance between potential and existing activities. Practical case studies of sustainable tourism are difficult to identify because of the involvement of interrelated variables and dimensions. The study measures the index of sustainability for ecotourism in Lake Kenyir from social, economic, and environmental dimensions. The study follows non-probability convenience sampling design with purposive sampling technique for the sample selection. The study uses 47 indicators under six relationship aspects, namely, resource on community, community on resource, resource on tourism, tourism on resource, tourism on community, and community on tourism to measure the ecotourism sustainability of the study site based on respondent perception. Based on the Barometer of Sustainability, the result demonstrates that Kenyir is classified as “potential sustainable” ecotourism destination. The study identifies four relationship aspects, namely, resource community, resource tourism, community tourism, and tourism community with potential sustainable level. The community and tourism resources have the poorest sustainability, and fall within the potentially unsustainable level. Result reveals the good interrelationship between tourism and community in the study site.