2023 in Pictures
Championing the 4Cs
Conservation. Community. Culture. Commerce.
We protect the island's biodiversity through sustainable practices and contributions to support Tengah Island Conservation’s work. We engage with and support our island community and the local communities around us whilst celebrating our rich Malaysian heritage. Our mindful business practices prioritise sustainability and we choose to buy local where possible to ensure tourism revenues flow into the area.
Conservation: Renewable Resolutions
Every stay at Batu Batu contributes essential funds to Tengah Island Conservation (TIC) so that the team of scientists can continue their critical work in monitoring and protecting the biodiversity around the Johor Marine Park. The team have been busy this year working on surveying, mapping and protecting coral reefs, seagrass and sea turtles. A projects funded by Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance and UNDP focused on island waste management and sustainable tourism on neighbouring Pulau Besar and schools outreach continued in Mersing and across the Johor Islands engaging more than 500 local students. Follow the TIC Instagram to see more.
On the Batu Batu operational side, we also continue to push towards becoming more sustainable with REEF Solutions coming in-house to reduce our water footprint and hence our carbon emissions and add on to our current waste water systems. We also increased the size of our in-house garden and harvested more fresh organic veg for our kitchen. A team of four MBA students from Asia School of Business joined us for a month to look at how we can further cut our waste streams.
Communities : Growing Connections
Covid rendered the Malaysian, and much of the world's tourism market, starved of manpower when many transitioned out of the industry and into the gig economy during the pandemic. 18 months on, we exited 2023 with 94 staff members on team, the exact same number as when Covid closed us down in March 2020. Our team is Batu Batu's life and soul and we are so grateful to each and every person for their contributions. In 2023, we worked hard, trained hard, helped our mainland Orang Asli friends with flood relief efforts, AND found some time to play too. We trained internally on sexual and reproductive health and co-wrote our anti-sexual harassment policies with our dear friends at SPOT. We underwent First Aid and Emergency Response Training in between volleyball sessions and ping-pong competitions and brought in interns from a number of local higher education institutions across our culinary, engineering, sustainability and people, culture and development teams.
We also spent much of 2023 engaging externally, building communities in and advocating for sustainable tourism in Malaysia. We helped co-ordinate a dialogue on Tourism & Green Finance in Singapore and attended the The Long Run’s Annual Meeting. We co-founded the Sustainable Tourism Network Malaysia (STN Malaysia) with The Habitat Foundation in Penang and helped organise and present at the first STN Malaysia Masterclass held in Rompin State Park.
Culture: Mersing & Beyond
In October some of our friends from The Long Run spent two days in Mersing and on the island enjoying a dose of authentic Johorean culture. The multi-national group stayed at our little sister guesthouse KakakTua, and toured local markets, tasted local delicacies including the (sometimes) controversial durian (!). They dined at Lok Tien Yuen, the historic Mersing Restaurant which boasts three generations of the Siew family helming in the kitchen, and toured mangroves and rock formations at the stunning Pulau Mawar. Follow some of their journey and look beyond JUST the jetty at Mersing!
On island, we continue to seek out and celebrate all things local including the myriad of Malaysian food, festivals and craft - a characteristic of our unique diversity. A few highlights last year included a trip to Terengganu up the East Coast to buy hand printed batik from a local artisan for our cushion refresh, our coconut Christmas tree and our hand drawn Deepavali decorations.
Commerce: Journey with Us
In 2023, the East Coast Terengganu artisanal batik cushion covers sewn by our Mersing tailor received rave raviews from guests and team alike. This complemented our “new” vintage furniture and cosy living areas from other buying trips for the Restaurant, Boutique and Spa. We also commissioned our very own range of specially formulated toiletries by home-grown Malaysian company Jeanie Botanicals, moved our Tiki Bar several times as nature dictated, rung our bell for numerous birthdays and created floral surprises for once-in-a-lifetime proposals on the island.
As the year wound to a close, we started planning for an exciting 2024. Our PADI 5-Star dive centre will re-open in March, perfect for a PADI refresher, Open Water or Advanced certification. Email our Dive Team for more information or to book your dives or course. There will be new programmes and activities, makeovers for our boutique and playhouse, and a very yummy new wine list to look forward to.
For our guests from Singapore, there is also now an option to take the ferry from Tanah Merah terminal to Tanjung Pengelih (in just 45 minutes!) or Desaru (90 minutes) , and by taxi to Mersing thereafter. More information on this route can be found on our FAQ page or go directly to the Batam Ferries site.
