Border Markets as Tourists Attractions

Mat Som, Ahmad Puad (First Author)
School of Housing, Building & Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia
ah

m

a

d . m at - s o

m,.d st rat

h

.

ac. u k. a h m ad p u ad_m at s o m

(rJ)

ya h o o. c o. u k

Mohamed. Badaruddin
School of Housing, Building & Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia
badaf(Dusm.my

Wong, Kong-Yew
Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia
kywon
gl'r?

eco n. upm. edu. m ),

Title: Tourism and Political Boundaries: Border Markets
Abstract

as

Tourist Attractions

Tourism appears to be an increasingly important industry in many border areas because many tourist destinations exist across boundaries.

In many ways, the existence

and

functions of political boundaries influence the nature of the tourism industry itself and the spatial development of the tourist destinations (Timothy, 1995). Eriksson (1979) further
suggests that the level ofattractiveness

ofborder areas depends on the natural, social

and

cultural environment near the border and the degree of freedom or difficulty in crossing

it. By conducting in-depth interviews, this study attempts to investigate whether the
growth of tourism industry on both sides of Malaysia and Thailand promotes local
economy as well as cohesion between the two tourist areas and between communities

with dissimilar cultures. The findings argue that the growth of tourism-related activities
especially the border market has increased local participation in tourism. But, the degree

of

to decrease over time due to high permeability between two different societies, which allows intrusion of foreign traders into local territories. In addition, local traders lack necessary resources to sustain the competitive business
involvement tends
environment. Therefore, this research suggests that the different types of border areas as

they relate to tourism are closely related to the degree of difficulty fortourists in crossing... [continues]

Read full essay