Friday, April 09, 2010

Pulau Redang aims to lure the rich with room rates no less than RM1,600

KUALA TERENGGANU: Pulau Redang — rated as one of the world’s most beautiful islands — is set to be turned into a getaway exclusively for the rich and famous.

Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said the state government would no longer approve the construction of chalet-type accommodation on the renowned island, which is much visited by the diving community.

“Only hotels rated five-star and above will be allowed to be built,” he said when met after the state assembly sitting here yesterday.

In future, only wealthy individuals would be able to afford holidays in Pulau Redang as hotel rooms will cost no less than US$500 (RM1,599) a night, Ahmad said.

He that said with the decision to turn the island into a high-end holiday destination, current chalets catering for backpackers would have to upgrade and raise their rates.

Asked if the move would draw criticism from non-governmental organisations, Ahmad said it was the only way to save the surrounding rich marine life and prevent environmental destruction due to pollution and indiscriminate littering.

“Some of the budget accommodation places on the island have no proper sewage system and waste is directed to the sea, and this destroys the corals,” he said.

Apart from that, Pulau Redang is a jewel for Terengganu and the 10th most beautiful island in the world, Ahmad said.

“Efforts must be made to save the island from deteriorating environmentally. Those on budget excursions can visit other islands like Pulau Kapas and Pulau Perhentian that are equally charming.”

Pulau Redang, a popular holiday destination for locals as well as foreigners, attracts about 100,000 visitors annually including many who flock there to visit the marine park.

source

This is typical of the stupidity we've come to expect from people in a certain political party.

Firstly, making it a "exclusive place for rich people" is not going to help tourism, its going to downright kill the business there. Even rich people and foreign tourists will go for the budget accommodations, and even the more expensive ones cost far less than RM1600 A NIGHT.

The corals are already dead due to pollution not just from sewage and litter, but also due to heavy traffic; boats discharge oily, dirty water into the sea generated by the diesel engines, and heavier ships like transport barges bearing construction materials (which sit low in the water due to their load) just plow through coral.

Hey, here's an idea. Why not save the money and further environmental damage that building and maintaining five-star hotels there and, I dunno, enforce anti-littering and sewage dumping activities?

And guess what the implications would be if they did go ahead and make Redang a 'five-star', exclusive locale? The volume of people visiting Redang would shift to Pulau Kapas and Perhentian, thus shifting the environmental impact to those places!

Perhentian is bad enough already, you can see dead coral reefs all around the island, and Perhentian didn't see the heavy commercialisation that Redang did, and doesn't have huge, ugly 5-star hotels sticking out like a sore thumb.

Keep your goddamn hotels on the mainland. Islands, especially ones with fragile marine life surrounding it like those off the coast of Terengganu should only have chalets, which have a much smaller environmental footprint than 5-star hotels both in construction and maintenance.

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