Sustainable Tourism Development Issues: An Assessment Towards the Urban and Communities of Malacca Historical City

Abstract

In the targets stated in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 11, we identified Malacca City from its initiative through various sustainable policies they have implemented. The city’s Green City Action Plan (2014) was established based on the 14 SDG’s main goals and outlines three key tourism sustainable development issues in Melaka in conserving its culture and heritage. Therefore, a precise problem statement was established from these issues: tourism development affects heritage sustainability and escalates conflicts on the host community's needs. Three objectives were derived from this study: to study the impact of tourism intensity in Malacca city, to evaluate the maintenance of historic properties and heritage areas in Malacca city, and to analyse the conflicts between tourism goals, heritage properties and the interests of residents. The data collection for this study was done through Google Forms, the quantitative data collection platform. The survey questionnaire was divided into four main sections: section A was for demographics, while sections B, C, and D were for the three indicators to be measured for this research. A multi-criteria option was used for section A while the remaining used a 5-level Likert to obtain the final score of the Sustainable Development Goals 11 performance in Malacca City. A total of 39 questionnaires that represented different perspectives were distributed to various respondents through Google Forms. Based on the analysis, the score for the overall SDG indicator stands at 74 %, which means a moderate level of sustainable city and community being implemented in Melaka City. Tourism is growing, and many tourists are happy to explore the beauty of Melaka, including culture and heritage. Maintenance of this treasure is essential as Melaka is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The influx of tourists brings many socio-economic benefits to the local community, and there is no rejection towards the development. However, the state government and other tourism stakeholders in Melaka must foster action to apply sustainable concepts in their development.