ECOCLUB, Issue 90
3
and countless cases of wasted funds from people who did not understand the challenges and level of commitment required
before they started their projects.
My book is to give them an idea of the potentials and pitfalls for them to check themselves whether they really have the skills,
funds and stamina to do this type of business. This business is not for everyone and is full of challenges. I hope my book will
help those who are genuinely serious in doing this business so that the country will benefit from better ecotourism products and
raise our standard.
I also indicated that some of the government policies were anti-poverty policies although this was not their intention but
unfortunately it is the case. More private investments would have taken place in rural areas with potential for employment
opportunities in ecotourism products if not for restrictive land and bank lending policies.
If I don’t speak out on the problems and challenges that I have encountered, we will not be able to change and improve nor
overcome the challenges. I understand that some policies are in place due mostly to insecurity. Given the rapid pace of
globalisation and the shift towards knowledge economy, I am afraid the old perception that land ownership being most
important is depriving the rural people of investment opportunities and thus of skills that they desperately need to raise their self
confidence and engage in the global economy to reduce their dependency on government welfare programs.
At the end of the day, given the power of internet and global presence, the customer is the final judge and not our competitor.
Our biggest competitor will be ourselves, both individually and as a country. Neither is knowledge static and with the power of
internet, we can use our knowledge through positioning our product as a brand. As ecotourism is a niche market, the more we
tell and the more people know about our unique product, the more potent is the branding.
ECOCLUB: You have won many prestigious international tourism awards in your career, both personal, and for your
businesses. You are also a member of the jury for other awards. So how important for business are major tourism awards,
compared with say certification? Do you feel major tourism awards are transparent enough, or is there considerable ground for
improvement?
Albert Teo: Awards are given based on certain criteria. It is also a form of benchmarking for us whether our operations and
products have achieved a certain standard based on those criteria. Certification does the same thing only that sometimes you
have to pay a fair amount of money which you will rather invest in improving the product.
I still believe that awards give me more mileage in publicity than certification especially when your products win several
different awards. However, certification is very useful especially when it can help improve the system and save cost in the long
run and improve profitability.
Just as business can be improved, so also tourism awards criteria. For example, criteria should be designed in such a way that a
billion dollar chain hotel company in a developed country does not compete unfairly with an independent small Ecolodge
operation in a third world country. So also a giant tour company employing 2,000 employees compete with 20-person company.
ECOCLUB: With Sukau you have made a miracle in developing a world class Ecolodge in what was not really a virgin
environment, as primary vegetation had been destroyed mainly for plantations, while also engaging in major reforestation
projects. Forest fires are of course a major problem, in your neighbours Indonesia. Do you see Ecotourism as a realistic way of
stopping forest fires, forestry and plantation expansion in the broader region, or practically as a neutral add-on?
Albert Teo: With Sukau Rainforest Lodge, we are trying to create a unique travel experience with limited funds. We are trying
to use the lodge as a tool for educating the locals and tourists alike on the idea of practising a more sustainable living and
sustainable development; that they is value in preserving the natural environment including the wildlife such as Borneo pygmy
elephants, orang utans and proboscis and the other primates in Sukau; that maximum land utilisation need not be at the expense
of wildlife and the natural environment; that locals prefer to work in tourism enterprises instead of in palm oil plantations; that
there is a place for commercial oil palm plantations and also ecotourism business and they need to co-exist in some areas.
So they cannot cut the native vegetation right to the river's edges as stipulated by law which affects wildlife viewing and
migration. Reforestation is not only expensive but also hard due to the compacted ground as we have found out in our
Kinabatangan wildlife corridor rehabilitation project KWICORP.
As Malaysians become more affluent, they will want to seek out places like Sukau for their spiritual encounters with wild orang
utans, wild elephants and wild proboscis monkeys and generally with nature and we need to protect the area for our future
generations to enjoy.
Ecotourism will not stop the fire and global expansion of palm oil so long as there is a market for them but it will raise the
consciousness of both the government and all the other stakeholders on the need to enforce our existing laws, that the
development of one industry stakeholder cannot be at the expense of the other stakeholders.
