LANGKAWI: The development and maintenance projects at the Langkawi Geopark are being carried out in accordance with requirement sets by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
The Langkawi Development Authority (Lada) has used a RM38 million allocation from the Federal Government under the Langkawi Tourism Blueprint to improve facilities and attractions since the last Unesco evaluation in 2011.
Chief executive officer Tan Sri Khalid Ramli said besides upgrading existing attractions at the geopark such as Dayang Bunting and Kilim Mangrove Tour, Lada also has a list of new projects to lure tourists to the island.
He said the projects, which took into account the tourism, education and community engagement aspects, were scheduled to be completed by next year, before the next Unesco evaluation.
He said these included the Asian Birds Conference which is expected to attract nature lovers from all over the world, as Langkawi was blessed with at least 240 species of birds.
“We have been improving and developing facilities, attractions and services at Langkawi Geopark since it was recognised by Unesco in 2007,” he said.
“It is true that Unesco gave a few suggestions to further improve services and systems here, such as upgrading the signages during its last evaluation in 2011, but other than that Unesco was satisfied and granted the geopark status to Langkawi for another four years.
“This proves that Lada has met the requirements set by Unesco and as such the ‘Yellow Card’ issue does not arise,” he said at a Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house organised by Lada Tourism recently.
Khalid said he welcomed suggestions and constructive criticism from all quarters.
“We are open to suggestions but please do not make any misleading statements or allegations as it could harm the tourism industry in the country,” he said.
He was responding to recent claims that the geopark was in danger of losing its Unesco status after it was issued a “Yellow Card” warning by the organisation following the local authorities’ failure to meet the conservation and sustainable practice requirements set by the organisation.