Boat service from Kuah in Langkawi ignites Tuba Island tourism
The addition of boat services from Langkawi’s Kuah Town is igniting the tourism trade on Tuba Island, which could provide additional revenue to the island’s 5,000 odd inhabitants.
Tuba Island is only 20 minutes from Kuah jetty, the main gateway into Langkawi for tourists arriving on ferries.
Efforts to promote the island to tourists, seen as a way to extend the duration of stay of international visitors to Langkawi, have thus far included homestays. Tuba Island is also home to the Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park, with limestone formations and other unique geological features.
However, the lack of accessibility from Langkawi has posed a challenge to promoting tourism on Tuba Island, said Mohammad Rosly Md Selamat, Community Tuba Enterprise promoter.
With scheduled boat departures from Kuah, Rosly is now working with the fishing and homestay community on the island to identify new business opportunities in tourism which could help supplement their income.
In addition, the Community Tuba Enterprise is working with Langkawi Business Association to set up a website to help create greater awareness of the island as well as to sell Tuba produce and handicrafts.
Langkawi Business Association president, Anthony Wong, shared that the association is setting up an area on Pulau Tengah to help fishermen on Tuba Island market their fresh seafood to tourists on the main island.
More Tuba Island tours are also in the works. Alexander Isaac, CEO, Tropical Charters, said the company would commence new tours involving cruising around Tuba Island, lunch prepared by locals, and island exploration in early 2019.
source: TTG Asia
