International Journal of Geosciences, 2013, 4, 1447-1458 Published Online December 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ijg) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ijg.2013.410142 Open Access IJG Biosphere Reserve as a Learning Tourism Destination: Approaches from Tasik Chini A. Habibah 1,2 , I. Mushrifah 1 , J. Hamzah 1,2 , A. Buang 1 , M. E. Toriman 2,3 , S. R. S. Abdullah 1,4 , K. Z. Nur Amirah 1 , Z. Nur Farahin 1 , A. C. Er 2 1 Pusat Penyelidikan Tasik Chini, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia 2 School of Social, Development and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia 3 Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia 4 Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia Email: ha@ukm.my Received November 2, 2013; revised November 28, 2013; accepted December 14, 2013 Copyright © 2013 A. Habibah et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In accor- dance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2013 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of the intellectual property A. Habibah et al. All Copyright © 2013 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as a guardian. ABSTRACT Biosphere Reserves (BR) are special areas or regions highly recognized for their conservation, logistic functions and sustainable development initiatives. However, not much work has explored into the BRs’ roles or functions as tourism learning destination, especially during the early years of their recognition as BR. This article aims to identify the mechanism utilised in the learning tourism function at Tasik Chini Biosphere Reserve since its inception in 2009 to the present year of 2013. The results reveal that learning of science and culture of the locals are the two-tier perspectives utlised in conceptualizing a tourism learning destination. Activities introduced in the specific themes of The Sustain- ability of Tropical Heritage fulfil the fundamental need of deep learning of scientific research and learning of the BR’s ecosystem, while the Ecosystem Health fulfils both deep and surface learning of the young visitors. The cultural knowledge of the community, on the other hand, offers a unique and authentic experience to the learners or visitors. As a learning tourism destination, the learning community, nevertheless, expects that the standard of tourism services should not be marginalised and must meet the high standard of tourism services. It is imperative that the science of Biosphere Reserve and the local culture are linked to set a holistic foundation in the creation of the learning pro- grammes at the Tasik Chini Biosphere Reserve. Keywords: Learning Tourism Destination; Ecotourism; Tasik Chini Biosphere Reserve; Deep Learning 1. Introduction Biosphere Reserves (BR) are highly acknowledged as areas or regions for undertaking learning, reconciling en- vironmental issues and integrating approaches for sus- tainable development. This is especially apparent in the three complementary and mutual functions of biodiver- sity conservation; sustainable economic and human de- velopment; and logistics support for research, monitoring, education and information exchange [1-4]. During the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable De- velopment (UNDESD, 2004-2013), another special re- sponsibility given to the BR is to function as a learning laboratory or learning site, where evidence-based knowl- edge, iterative and practical principles are utilised to en- sure sustainable development [1,5]. This mission and aspiration further demand salient approaches as learners now are not limited to only small groups of locals; in- stead, it is intended to cater to a wider international com- munity [6,7]. Whilst extensive documentations on successful learning functions or sites provide references to the policy makers and practitioners in the recent years [8-13], what consti- tutes a good model of a learning destination for a newly endorsed site still remains limited. There is no agreed and well defined learning destination that offers a holistic orientation and specific-site knowledge. To date, social learning [14], ecosystem approach [9,15] and systems thinking approach [5,16,17], learning tourism destination