Plan: Tourism development and sustainability on Flores, Indonesia

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

Initiated by the Eco Flores Foundation stakeholders, the latter met with the Tourist Development Ministry in Jakarta, Indonesia, on December 9.

Initiated by the Eco Flores Foundation stakeholders, the latter met with the Tourist Development Ministry in Jakarta, Indonesia, on December 9.

The goal was to establish a shared vision about โ€˜What is the right type of tourism development for Floresโ€™s sustainable future?โ€™ and to initiate stakeholder collaboration. This shared vision about the right type of tourism development for Floresโ€™s sustainable future has been formulated by a cross-sector and cross-border multi-stakeholder group.

Stakeholders jointly committed to support and carry out this vision.

The background for this meeting was compiled by Dr. Stroma Cole on behalf of Eco Flores.

Dr. Stroma Cole has been involved in tourism on Flores since 1989, has written a book and numerous articles about tourism and development on Flores. She provides CBT training for the Flores Homestay Network.

Some of the main challenges facing the development of sustainable tourism on Flores are:

1. Tourism development is focused on measuring the number of arrivals to destinations and jobs created, rather than the sustainability of the tourism resources or the number of local jobs created and amount of community income generated/community well-being developed.

2. Destinations are often negatively affected by visitation rather than positively affected (precisely because of the wrong metrics to measure success).

3. Tourism plans in many cases also lack metrics, or the enforcement and incentives for sustainability.

4. The industry is fragmented and stakeholders are not working together to create a shared, bold agenda, and sticking to a sustainable path.

5. Despite the many examples of the impacts of unsustainable tourism development around the globe, the patterns continue to be repeated over and over. We must learn from the mistakes of the past and examples of good practice.

6. There seems to be a perceived notion of never-ending supply of destinations and attractions so key players are not necessarily committed to the sustainability of the destination where they operate at a particular point in time. In other words, many companies will not commit to the long-term vision that sustainable development requires. As we have seen in Bali, some come in, take as much as they can and leave with their profits but what remains are environmental and social destruction of the destination. Flores will be next if we donโ€™t act now and together.

We need to join forces for Collective Impact and stop working separately. We need to recognize that sustainability in tourism can be complex and we need many different areas of expertise and decision-makers from different sectors (industry, governments, NGOs, academics, media) to interact in order for solutions to take place. We need different areas of government: National, Provincial and local to work more closely together and we need cross departmental communication: Tourism, Telecoms, education, development etc. Businesses, NGOs and in Indonesia Provinces and Kabupatens, need to put aside their individual competitiveness strategies to focus on working jointly for the well-being of the destinations where they operate. When that happens, the sustainability agenda moves forward faster.

Sustainable tourism is becoming the norm rather than the exception. Hopefully it will not be too late for the wellbeing of many destinations that desperately need help. Consumers will get to understand what is truly at stake and will act on it. That is now being facilitated by the growing access to information via Internet and social media. Such consumer awareness might be the push we need in order to accelerate the efforts many companies, governments and NGOs are pursuing. We need to see more consolidation and alliances between sustainably programs.

Some of the most critical issues that need far greater awareness and consideration are:

1. Land
Land is the most essential resource and everything must be done to protect the resource base for its custodians: the children and future children of Flores. Developers (often working with local elites) will use many tricks to acquire land. The people of Flores must understand that if they are offered a lot for their land today tomorrow, it will be twice as much tomorrow. (STORY: one patch of land in Labuan was offered for $2000 in 2006, in 2009 it was sold for $30,000; in 2011 it was $27000 and in 2014 $400,000). If you need money rent or contract your land for 10 years โ€“ do not give up the resource base!! Everybody needs to understand this โ€“ help spread the work โ€“ rent/lease/contract land DO NOT SELL IT!!!!

2. Carrying Capacity
Tourism in Bali has gone horribly wrong because it has grown beyond its carrying capacity i.e. the number of tourists a destination can receive without the negative impacts out-weighing the positive impacts. It is in the interests of developers and investors to have more and more tourists. The government has encouraged more and more tourists without standing back and saying โ€œwhat is the optimal number of tourists?โ€ When they are many tourists the type of tourist changes and the economic benefits are reduced, but environmental damage and socio-cultural costs remain high. Flores needs to understand its carrying capacity for optimal tourism. All the most expensive destinations: Seychelles, Bemuda, Bhutan, have all set capacity limits and used them to attract the highest spending /the most discerning tourists. Flores wants responsible tourists โ€“ NOT MASS tourism in order to attract the right tourists, the different stakeholders Government, and NGOs must all recognise the need for gentle development for the people of Flores (and for the touristsโ€™ satisfaction). Rapid airport expansion will result in
rapid unchecked development to the detriment of the people. The speed of development must be kept in pace with other developments, e.g.human resources.

Carrying capacity limits need to consider a range of factors:

a) Water โ€“Flores is dry, tourism is thirsty โ€“ how many tourists can we really support without harming the water supply for local people _ this issue is already critical in Labuan and urgently needs research and a strategy!

b) Human resources โ€“ if Tourism develops too quickly the local capacity to serve the tourists will not exist โ€“ this will result in immigration โ€“ adding to the pressures on other resources. We need an education plan for up-grade the human resources on Flores so that as tourism increases, the human capacity to service their needs exists from the talented pool of Flores people.

c) Feeding the tourists โ€“ tourism as an industry has a huge potential benefit to make linkages in the agriculture sector. This needs to be developed in tandem with tourism. If tourism is developed without agricultural production the food for the tourists will have to be imported โ€“ this is already the case in Labuan- This is not only a wasted potential for Flores but adds to environmental destruction and is not what is expected of responsible tourists who want to eat locally produced, seasonal food. Agricultural development must run hand in hand with tourism development or it will not meet development objectives, will result in high leakages and will not be responsible. There are many examples around the world where this has been successful โ€“ we should learn from examples of best practise.

3. Women and Inequality
Women on Flores are already burdened โ€“ looking after children, in agriculture, weaving, and domestic work. Tourism can bring empowerment to women but there is also the risk of โ€œdouble burdenโ€ โ€“ cooking and cleaning for the family and doing it for tourists too! Increasing womenโ€™s work load is not empowering them. Women need to be part of active decision making about tourism as the decisions will affect them and their childrenโ€™s lives. Gender equality matters for responsible tourism.

4. Out of pocket spending
Beyond accommodation and food the greatest economic benefits from tourism come from out of pocket tourism expenditure. Flores needs to consider what and how they will sell. The creative industries, like food, can have great linkages in tourism (think of the huge craft industries on Bali) โ€“ but we need to think creatively and not copy everywhere else. Likewise the arts โ€“ music and dance etc. can be boosted through tourism but not if everywhere does the same as everywhere else. Activities are now very important for responsible tourists โ€“ itโ€™s about what the tourists do as well as what they see.

5. Waste management
If Flores is to attract responsible tourists it must resolve its huge waste problem. Tourists do not like waste, the environment โ€“ upon which tourism depends, cannot stand waste, and the people of Flores simply must learn how to deal with this issue!

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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