FINAL VERSION FOR APPROVAL - Sdn Bhd - WWF Malaysia

Gunung Stong State Park Preliminary Management Plan
4.3.2 General Conclusions of the Visitor Profile Survey
The majority of visitors were locals (65%) while foreigners (35%) were mostly Singaporeans.
Most of the visitors were from their teens to working adults below 40 years of age. The
favorite mode of transport was the train (56%), and the visitors travel in groups of five and
above, usually in camping and mountaineering expeditions organised by their leaders.
Most are quite happy with facilities at Baha Camp or the KPK Resort, though quite a
significant block feels that some minor upgrading and maintenance is overdue, but not major
expansion of facilities into a golf resort or a cable-car system.
Typical with most ecotourism visitors to national parks and other protected areas, visitors
were in for the outdoor experience, and they were less concerned with luxury
accommodation. As far as they were concerned, existing facilities at Baha Camp or the Stong
Resort are adequate for their needs.
The respondents were happy with the price and the quality of the guiding services offered by
the guides, and most of them (88%) stayed for 3 days or more. There was a high level of
satisfaction in their experiences at GSSP, with 59% satisfied, and 39% claiming that it had
exceeded their expectations. Almost all (94%) intended to visit GSSP again.
Photo 4.2: Singaporean hikers
WWF-Malaysia/ N. M. Maseri
4.4 Tourism Infrastructure
In 1994, anticipating the potential of tourism at GSSP, the Perdana Stong Resort was
established, but lacking business, its management was transferred to Singgahsana Stong Hill
Resort (2000), which was then transferred again to KPK Resort (2003). As at to-date,
KESEDAR is in the process of acquiring the resort, and is in the process of due diligence: the
verification and valuation of assets before a fair price is obtained and negotiated with the
previous owner. Within the space of 10 years, the resort has changed ownership four times.
The lack of success of the resorts is due to the mismatching of perceptions with market
realities – the tendency to associate tourism with leisure and mass tourism, and the
construction of resorts targeting this market segment, when the majority of visitors to
protected areas are ecotourists whose main objectives are to experience nature (including the
hardships). Leisure resorts may have a place at Kinabalu Park and Taman Negara, with
annual visitors of 220,000 and 65,000 respectively (NRE, 2005), but not for GSSP, with only
some 5,000 annual visitors.
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