MANAGING BEACH TOURISM IN LANGKAWI GEOPARK: FROM THE INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS’ PERSPECTIVES

Beach tourism is one of the major attractions in tourism development in many parts around the world. While there are numerous developmental approaches that often destinations, managers and planners seek as alternatives, revitalizing these areas within the context of experience economy and beach management is one of the recent challenging tasks. One example is the development of Cenang Beach of Langkawi Island that aims at providing experiences that meet the international tourists who visited the Geopark Langkawi. This article, therefore, aims to explore on the changing beach tourism within the context of experience economy from the tourists' perspective and beach management. The findings show that the beach tourism has provided more international-oriented experiences compared to local authentic experiences. In conclusion, inclusive beach management should be enhanced in managing Cenang Beach, making the ‘construct of experience economy' be easily transformed into beach tourism