Covid-19, tourism, biodiversity, communities and recovery - using this pause…
“At 10pm just three weeks ago I sat on my bed on Whatsapp with our friends at Rimba Resort on nearby Sibu island, discussing how we were all were coping with the Covid-induced reduction in tourists. Not long into our conversation, I received a message from Tanya, the Programme Director at Tengah Island Conservation. “Have you heard the Prime Minister’s speech?” — Malaysia’s lockdown had just been announced. The resort would close the following day.”
View from the jetty at Pulau Tengah, last Friday 3rd April
To be honest, it sort of came as a relief. There had been fears of Covid-19 spreading uncontrollably in Malaysia where on the streets people were moving around, business-as-usual. Undoubtedly the government’s decisive step was absolutely the right decision to stop a catastrophic spread which would have crippled the health services and undoubtedly result in many unnecessary deaths.
However, for us at Batu Batu, it was also the start of our high season, and the time when we welcome many tourists and build-up reserves to see us through our lower monsoon months. Just a couple of weeks earlier, the sea had turned from that monsoon green to translucent turquoise, turtles were popping their heads-up out of the glassy sea and our dive instructors had just arrived! It was the start of what would have been a very busy period which coincides with the international schools’ Easter holidays regionally. What terrible timing…
The next morning I drove into Mersing and took a boat into the island. Knowing that we would have no more revenues for the foreseeable future — anything from 3 months to 6 months, or would it be 12 months or 18 months, the management team needed to have a crisis meeting and take some decisions that would help save the business so that after the crisis, we would be in a position to pick-up and carry-on.
We’ve always paid our staff on time, priding ourselves on holding together a fantastic, warm team who in turn pride themselves on providing their best. Beyond our amazing people, we’ve used our profits to fund a team of scientists who conduct meaningful biodiversity work on our island and the islands around us. We’ve used profits to start community projects in on the mainland in Mersing, to engage with local communities and other stakeholders to advocate for sustainable travel. And now, all this has to stop because we rely on tourism funds to finance these projects and now, the tourists can’t come. It’s heart-breaking.
However, I have been thinking (in between contingency planning and elbows deep in budgets) does it all really need to stop and should it stop? Overnight, the Coronavirus turned the world upside down and stopped everything in its tracks. It will have real and deep impacts on people and on communities everywhere. For example, do you know that 500,000 tourists a year travel to the Johor Islands and Pulau Tioman? That’s a lot of spending money that’s just not going to come into our little part of the world this year.
So should we sit round and lament our losses, or can we put our heads together and work out how we can take this enforced break as an opportunity? Over-tourism may have been suddenly halted but what happens when the world re-opens and everyone who has been penned-in is allowed out? Shouldn’t all of us in tourism spend some time now to reflect on tourism models and put in place guidelines, regulations or develop initiatives which would allow people to travel better? Are we being given a pause which allows us to think deeply on travel in the future? Do we have a responsibility to move and do something at this point in time? And will we kick ourselves if we do not?
So I wrote this blog post, to order my thoughts and to reach out to others interested in putting heads together, to connect the dots between biodiversity and tourism management, to think of tourism-reliant communities today and the recovery in the future. I believe there is much we can do, and as a team we already have some ideas we want to build on. If you want to collaborate, contribute or bounce ideas, please get in touch. I am finding it difficult to stay consistently motivated right now as we wind-down our island’s operations, so I believe collaborative motivation is a good way forward.
Finally, I would also like to reach out on behalf of Tengah Island Conservation, for ideas and opportunities for funding. The amazing team of conservation scientists are still based on the island but now face the challenge of zero funding to continue their scheduled biodiversity work. They are ready to put heads together and write plans, engage, research and brainstorm. Again, please get in touch if you have ideas.
In the meantime, stay well and keep safe.
Cher
Co-founder, Batu Batu - Tengah Island & Tengah Island Conservation