Wk 9 - Eco-tourism

As the final weeks of the semester approaches, trying to make ends meet between submission deadlines. In the midst of consideration of a nice getaway trip, I question myself regarding the relationship between sustainability and getaway trip, Upon reflecting my experiences in Malaysia, "sustainable" themed accommodation not only often strikes interest among us as architecture-junkies, in fact, young adults who wants to get away from the bustling city life. 

Among the few that are often mention are "The Capsule Retreat",  Kuantan, Malaysia, approximate 2hours drive away from the capital of Kuala Lumpur  and "The Container Hotel" built from recycled shipping containers within the heart of Kuala Lumpur. 

Source : http://archartme.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/unique-hotel-time-capsule-retreat.html

Source : http://www.cuti.my/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/container-hotel-840.jpg

The examples mentioned above often draw curiosity from the younger generation, to promote sustainability through the increasing demand for unique accommodations. As a research done by Day & Cai (2012) stated that sustainability is not an absolute concept and different stakeholders have variety of perspective on what constitutes appropriate action. This market of Eco-tourism often focuses on the natural landscape while minimising human damage and intervention but the container hotel proofs that the idea of eco-tourism is not bound only by natural landscaping, but instead the uniqueness and objective in creating a sustainable tourism building are not absolute. 

By giving new purpose towards its original intended function, the mentioned projects not only reduced the used of additional raw materials from being abstract in order to build conventional accommodations, they were given a unique out of characteristic function in order to market as "sustainable". 

While there is perhaps an arguable marketing ploy and the project is not necessarily 100% carbon neutral, "sustainability in larger resort and hotel developments may prove to be a challenging and difficult process" (Salehudin, 2013),  it nonetheless represents a solution where ‘cutting back’ in the name of sustainability does not necessarily mean abandoning the comforts of the modern world. Although, 

Resource :
http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1877042813024981/1-s2.0-S1877042813024981-main.pdf?_tid=6b6bea12-1f3e-11e6-8822-00000aacb35e&acdnat=1463826543_62f48bd8af4002d3715e5f7c7f35831f

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265051282_Challenges_to_sustainable_resort_and_hotel_development_in_Malaysia

http://archartme.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/unique-hotel-time-capsule-retreat.html