A Mathematical Model to Assess the Impact of Tourism Activities on the Economy of Vendors at Bukit Maras, Terengganu, Malaysia

Bukit Maras is one of the recreational spots that has been identified as having great potential to be promoted as a tourist destination in Terengganu. In this study, it is intriguing to see the whether the tourism activities that occurred at Bukit Maras have a positive impact on the economic activity of the local vendors from the point of view of mathematical modelling. The objective of this paper is to formulate a mathematical model in the form of ordinary differential equations (ODEs), inspired by the concept of symbiosis interaction in ecology. Further, some mathematical analyses of this model such as finding the steady states and their stability, were also proved. In addition, some numerical simulations are performed using Maple software to produce the plots of time series as well as phase portraits. To prove the positive impact of the presence of tourists on the economics of vendors, a parameter called the spending rate by the tourists was varied. The results showed that as the spending rate increased, it was expected that the number of vendors would increase too. This indicated that the economics of the vendors have improved. Moreover, it is also predicted that the number of tourists will continuously increase in the future, provided that the attractiveness factors of the Bukit Maras are well preserved. These results are significant for the local government to provide more funding for the development of Bukit Maras so that both tourists and vendors can be sustained in the future.