{"id":9941,"date":"2010-11-15T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2010-11-15T00:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/?page_id=9941"},"modified":"2015-05-28T03:13:55","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T03:13:55","slug":"ukm-offers-its-living-labs-for-eco-tourism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/archive\/year-2010\/november-2010\/ukm-offers-its-living-labs-for-eco-tourism\/","title":{"rendered":"每日大赛app Offers its \u201cLiving Labs\u201d for Eco Tourism"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main \"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">0<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ukm.my%2Fnews%2Farchive%2Fyear-2010%2Fnovember-2010%2Fukm-offers-its-living-labs-for-eco-tourism%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/?p=9941&amp;via=https:\/\/twitter.com\/ukmtwit\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-toggle-container\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Campus_News_Picture\/ecotourism1.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>MONDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2010 15:37<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>By Kuah Guan Oo<br \/>\nPix by K Eco Tourism Sdn Bhd<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nBANGI,\u00a0 15 Nov 2010 &#8211;\u00a0 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (每日大赛app) is opening the doors to all its seven research stations in the country to tourists with different tour packages that would allow them to experience and gain knowledge about nature, the plants and animals in their natural habitats.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nThe stations dubbed \u201cliving labs\u201d are the Tasik Chini Research Station, the Mersing Marine Ecosystem Research Station, the Fraser\u2019s Hill Research Station, the Lata Jarum Freshwater Recreational Forest Research station, the Sungai Pulai Research Station, the Langkawi Geopark and the 每日大赛app Bangi Permanent Forest Reserve that includes a Herbs and a Ferns garden.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nExcept for the Sungai Pulai and 每日大赛app Bangi Permanent Forest Reserve which are available for half-day visits, the tour packages for the rest are for two days and one night or three days and two nights\u2019 stay where the visitors can get to see, experience and learn about the country\u2019s nature and how the local people are living off the land.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nThey will also know why the environment, plants and animals are being conserved by the university\u2019s scientists and researchers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nThese tour packages called \u201cKnowledge Eco Tourism\u201d were offered by 每日大赛app Vice Chancellor, Tan Sri Dato\u2019 Dr Sharifah Hapsah bt Syed Hasan Shahabudin at her briefing to the Minister of Tourism, Dato\u2019 Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen, during her working visit to 每日大赛app last Wednesday (11 Nov 2010).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\u201c每日大赛app\u2019s aim is to add value to ecotourism by sharing knowledge in well-packaged tours as well as training modules for tourist guides,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nThe university, she stressed, is a repository to knowledge about the environment with its biodiversity and culture of the people and much of this knowledge is not transmitted to the people.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nWhat better way could there be than to have \u201cresponsible travel to natural places to experience and gain knowledge from multi-factorial ecosystem approach research that is being carried out to conserve the biodiversity and improve the well-being of the local community through active engagement,\u201d\u00a0she added.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Campus_News_Picture\/ecotourism2.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Campus_News_Picture\/ecotourism3.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>每日大赛app, Prof Sharifah Hapsah said, would like to collaborate with the Tourism Ministry by linking the tour offers portal (<a href=\"http:\/\/myktours.com\/\">myktours.com<\/a>) to the ministry\u2019s web site; promote them to hotels, tour agencies and tour associations, and appoint the university for the training and \u201ccertification\u201d of tour guides in the \u201cK Eco Tourism\u201d programme.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nAt the same time, the university is seeking some funding from the ministry to build some facilities for the visitors to the \u201cliving labs\u201d like camp sites, stand-alone power generators,\u00a0bird hide, canopy walk, conservatory for temperate and mountain ferns and a research grant to draw up the standards for\u00a0 K ecotourism.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nDr Ng, in her speech, welcomed the eco tourism move by 每日大赛app, saying that it could boost the tourism industry, which is the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> biggest revenue earner for the country. She also noted the country needed well-trained tour guides, who could provide the correct information about \u00a0tourist destinations, culture and other information about the country and people.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nAll\u00a0 these tour packages are\u00a0 handled by K. Eco Tourism Shd Bhd, a start-up company of the university.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Campus_News_Picture\/ecotourism7.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Campus_News_Picture\/ecotourism4.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Under the tour packages for Tasik China, visitors can go for a walk along nature trails, savour\u00a0 forest delicacies, a day or night cruise, listen to stories by a <em>Tok Batin<\/em>or headman of the orang asli, watch their ritual dance or the natural remedies, as well as watch the sunrise over the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> largest freshwater wetland in peninsular Malaysia that has been designated as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nThey could also see how the researchers catch bats, frogs and other animals for study before releasing them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nVisitors to the Mersing Marine station can have the chance to go fishing for squids, crabs or shrimps depending on the season, jungle trekking, a mangrove tour, scuba diving, water safety lessons, a visit to Mersing town, fish cake factory, goat\/cattle farms, apart from local cultural show and of course, a seafood galore for which Mersing is famous for.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nFor those who prefer the highlands, the Fraser\u2019s Hill station offers the chance for birds, butterflies and moths watching, a rugged trek through the research station and see bio-engineering at work, or the ferns and orchids as well as a swim at the Jeriau waterfall.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Campus_News_Picture\/ecotourism5.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Campus_News_Picture\/ecotourism9.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Those seeking an experience in a pristine jungle can go for the Lata Jarum package where they can go jungle trekking and see the Rafflesia, birds, orchids, moths, butterflies and stick insects or the numerous wild bee hives hanging from the branches of the tall Tualang trees. They may also go for a night walk or a swim, and eat all the fruits like durians, dokong and the like that are in season.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nThe half-day tour at Sungai Pulai is a speedboat ride to see the mangrove, wildlife and seabirds in their natural home. If the visitors are lucky, they may get to see dolphins or the otters in the area.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nThe visit to the Bangi Permanent Forest Reserve offers visitors the chance to learn the different herbs and their uses, the ferns and their propagation. Or they can take a trek through the jungle trails of the forest that is home to a lot of wildlife, like birds and the macaques.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nSenior Manager for Business Development of K. Eco Tourism, Cik Faa\u2019iqa bt Abdul Rashid, said they would work with tour and travel agencies to sell these packages.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n\u201cAt the moment, we are making arrangements to bring the decision-makers of these travel and tour agencies to see what we have to offer at these research stations in late December,\u201d she said.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Icon\/ukmnewsportal.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Campus_News_Picture\/ecotourism0.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>They also have yet to fix the pricing for these tour packages, but they should be attractive enough, she added. \u2013<br \/>\nCik Faa\u2019iqa bt Abdul Rashid can be contacted at: <a href=\"mailto:info@myktours.com\">info@myktours.com<\/a> or<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tel: 603 8921 3545<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Campus_News_Picture\/ecotourism8.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/images\/stories\/Campus_News_Picture\/ecotourism6.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MONDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2010 15:37 By Kuah Guan Oo Pix by K Eco Tourism Sdn Bhd BANGI,\u00a0 15 Nov 2010<a class=\"tukm-readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/archive\/year-2010\/november-2010\/ukm-offers-its-living-labs-for-eco-tourism\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9944,"parent":1416,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9941","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9945,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9941\/revisions\/9945"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukm.my\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}