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Perlis State Park is about 5000ha in size. It is located in Malaysia at the transboundary adjoining Thaleban National Park in Thailand. It was established in 1996 for conservation, education, R&D and recreation based on the uniqueness and distinctive geological features. The park geology is predominantly limestone, a patch of granite and clastic sedimentary rocks. They form the foundation for diverse species of flora and fauna. The park has all the elements for a rich biodiversity and geodiversity region, having all the intrinsic properties of fascinating Perlis State. Tourism geoscience, first established at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, is a body of knowledge that evaluates natural resources from a different paradigm with special emphasis on the interrelationships between geoscape foundation, biotic system and human culture. The evaluated resource is called geoasset. It is defined as a class of natural resources with internal intrinsic property that can be utilised as natural investment capital for long term knowledge-mining and also for regional planning and tourism development. Core concepts of tourism geoscience (intrinsic value, non-extractive utilization, dynamic equilibrium and continuum of ecosystem, human habitat planning and foundation management, touristic development as a precursor for tourism industry) and the rational for rethinking industry into humanistic and mechanistic types will be discussed with respect to the Perlis State Park as natural laboratory for conceptual development of tourism geoscience as an area of specialization.
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