‘Make geopark a knowledge-based tourism site’

PETALING JAYA: Industry players are urged to capitalise on the Langkawi Unesco Global Geopark to promote knowledge-based tourism in the run-up to Visit Malaysia Year 2020.

Friends of Langkawi Geopark (FLAG) founder and president Datuk Kamarulzaman Abdul Ghani says the 99-island archipelago offers an exciting opportunity to learn how the peninsula was formed as geological findings have indicated that it could be the “birthplace” of Malaysia.

“Education in tourism is fast becoming a trend. We should capitalise on the thirst for knowledge-based tourism to showcase our natural and cultural heritage to the world,” he said.

Unesco has acknowledged that the Langkawi Geopark boasts the most complete Palaeozoic sedimentary sequence in Malaysia, dating more than half a billion years, as far back from the Cambrian (ended about 540 million years ago) to the Permian period (ended more than 250 million years ago).

The Machinchang Cambrian Geoforest Park that features the Machinchang Formation dating back 550 million years is one of the three designated geoforest parks in Langkawi.

These parks protect biodiversity in habitats like mangroves, tidal flats, beaches, estuaries, coral reefs, caves and limestones, while many more harbour various life forms.

There are more than 30 accessible geosites within the three geoforest parks, namely Machinchang, Kilim and Dayang Bunting.

The Kubang Badak bio-geotrail is among the latest geotourism packages offered within the confines of the Machinchang park.