The potential of nature tourism activities at mangrove areas in Tumpat, Kelantan.

Kelantan consists of 744 ha of mangrove forest, where there are patches of mangrove forests located at estuaries and river banks in Tumpat and Bachok. Tumpat is the most unique because of the plain, hundreds of river islands and has potential to be developed as international tourism attraction. There were three objectives in this study, which were; (i) Identify the nature attractions in mangrove of Tumpat, (ii) Access the nature tourism activities in mangrove of Tumpat and (iii) Assess the perceptions of respondents towards tourism development in mangrove of Tumpat. The study was conducted in Tumpat areas, Kelantan by using questionnaires. 100 sets of survey form were randomly distributed at Bandar Tumpat, Kok Majid, Pulau Beluru, Pulau Suri and Pantai Sri Tujuh. The result shows the nature attractions in Tumpat are mangrove forests (42.8%), diversity of flora and fauna (30.3%) and delta areas (26.9%). The suggested potential nature tourism activities in this mangrove were boat ride (37%), mangrove tour (32%) and bird watching (31%). From this study, there are 71% of the respondents agreed to develop Tumpat as tourism destination. Therefore, a mangrove area at Tumpat ability to became as tourism destination due to activities those visitors able to do at mangrove areas.