Recovery
of Tourism Sector Post Disaster:
A
Lesson Learnt from Lombok Tourism Post EQ 2018
Disaster Vulnerability of Indonesia Tourism Sites
Lombok
Island has been named the Best Halal Tourist Destination on
the 2019 Indonesia Muslim Travel Index (IMTI). Tourism is one of the strategic
sectors in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), besides agriculture, and trade and
commerce. Several of its renowned tourism sites, are Mount Rinjani, Kuta
Mandalika, Three Gili Islands, and Mount Tambora. Following the earthquake that
hit the island in 2018 on 5 July 2018 (Magnitude 6,4), 5 August 2018 (Magnitude
7,00), and 19 August 2018 (Magnitude 6,9) has caused disruption to these
sectors, which particularly affected the tourism sector at most.
Responding
to the catastrophes and following the ending of the response phase, as per 31
December 2019 the Government of West Nusa Tenggara Province (NTB) declared the
fifth extension of the transition phase of Earthquake Recovery until 31 March
2020. The declaration issued by the Governor of NTB Province following the
request from the NTB Province Disaster Management Agency (BPBD NTB) due to
remaining constructions works on the housing sector, in which there are 43,972
houses that are still on the progress of reconstruction. The housing
construction works are using the On-Call Budget (DSP) which can no longer be
used once the transition phase is over. Besides housing, there are still four
other sectors that have become priority attention of the Government of NTB
which are outlined in their Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Plan (R3), which
are: public infrastructure, social, productive economic, and
multi-sector.
Beside Lombok, there are many other regions in Indonesia that also were badly affected by disasters, such as: Aceh which hit by major earthquake and tsunami in 2004 and have multiple earthquake episodes since then, and Bali that is well recognized as one of global tourism destination also severed from the eruption of Mount Agung in 2017
Beside Lombok, there are many other regions in Indonesia that also were badly affected by disasters, such as: Aceh which hit by major earthquake and tsunami in 2004 and have multiple earthquake episodes since then, and Bali that is well recognized as one of global tourism destination also severed from the eruption of Mount Agung in 2017
The
Impact of Earthquake on Productive Economic Sector of Tourism
Among
the affected sectors above, tourism is one of the productive economic
sectors that is significantly impacted by the decline of the economic growth in
Lombok post-earthquake. The main reason is because of the decreasing of
tourists visit to Lombok. According to the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
Plan (Rencana Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi/R3) that is developed by the seven
earthquake-affected regencies, only five of them that are explicitly mentioned
about the impact from earthquake to tourism, as summarized below.
1.
Lombok Barat/West Lombok Regency
The
earthquake is reported to cause damages in the tourism sub-sector in sum
IDR 24,873,440,000 and loss around IDR 55,129,985,000 which the
total value of impact from the earthquake reached IDR 80,003,425, 000.
The greatest impact came from the decreasing of tourists stay/occupation in the
hotels and other accommodation in sum PIDR 76,248,225,000
2.
Lombok Tengah/Centra Lombok Regency
This regency does not report any damages, yet, the loss
from the tourism sub-sector reached IDR 16,975,000,000 due to decreasing of
tourists visit in the tourism sites down to 16,158 persons (94,63%) compare to the tourist visit
on August 2017
3.
Lombok Timur/East Lombok Regency
The 2018 earthquake has reduced the number of tourist
visits, local and international. Although it did not affect the tourism sector
directly, however, a lot of damages happened on the facilities of Rinjani
National Park (TNGR). These damages were estimated reached around
IDR 943.600.000,-, with
total loss worth for IDR 22.912.766.500,-, The impact of EQ has affected
financially in the sum of IDR 1.173.840.000,-
4.
Lombok Utara/North Lombok Regency
The values of damages and loss from the 2018 Earthquake
in the tourism sector and its supporting sectors reached 66,17% as it is
also affected the trade and small and medium scale enterprises sectors with
total recovery needs up to IDR 421,500,000,-
5.
Mataram/Mataram City
The affected tourism sector is mostly on building damages
that worth up to IDR 20.027.040.000 and caused the loss of tourism
activities worth for IDR Rp.189.000.000. The total recovery needs is in
the sum of IDR 12.273.599.539
6.
Sumbawa/Sumbawa Regency
The R3 does not report any damages nor loss in Sub-Sector
of Tourism
7.
Sumbawa Barat/West Sumbawa Regency
The
R3 does not report any damages nor loss in the Sub-Sector of Tourism
The
NTB Province Tourism Office admitted that the office is lack of budget in
recovering the tourism facilities or even revitalize the tourism sites. The
available budget can only be used to promote the non-affected tourism sites,
such as for Kuta Mandalika, Selong Belanak, and Village Tourism Program.
According to the Ministry of Tourism during the Coordination Meeting for the
Acceleration of Tourism Normalization Post NTB EQ on September 2018, the
estimated loss from the sector has reached 100 million USD[1].
More specifically, a study on the value chain of the tourism sector in Rinjani
areas in East Lombok that was done by UNDP and Gema Alam, show significant loss
of income on the Geopark Mount of Rinjani Tourism that reached 400 trillion IDR
in the period of July 2018 to August 2019. The community that relied on their
livelihood from tourism has to find alternative income from agriculture and
trading. The earthquake not just impacted to the decreasing number of tourists
visit who was afraid, but also greater damages on the tourism infrastructure
across the Geopark Mount of Rinjani that are abandoned.
On
14 June 2019, having realized the needs to recover the community livelihood and
reinvigorate the Geopark Mount of Rinjani Tourism, the Government of NTB opened
the hiking trail and tracking route in North, Central, and East of Lombok. Yet
at this time, the hikers and trackers can only reach the Pelawangan area, due
to safety reasons and damages on the facilities above the mountain that has not
been repaired. Unfortunately, on 20 October 2019, due to extreme weather, the
forests in Rinjani burnt out and left damaged on the 6,055 hectares of the area[2]. Hundreds of hikers were evacuated and once again
Geopark Mount of Rinjani is closed for tourism.
The
Geopark Mount of Rinjani is not the only site that attracts the tourists,
Lombok also has several beaches renowned for their views. Yet, not all
beaches are safe for swimming or recreation. The tourists must be extra cautious
about any threat of tidal waves. Recent incidents have taken the lives of tourists
in Senggigi, Surga, and Ketapak Beaches where they drowned after swept by the
wave. Nevertheless, the safety of the tourists is not just the responsibility
of the tourists themselves or the tour guides. It becomes the responsibility of
the communities in the tourism site or even every one that is on the spots as
well.
The
Crisis Management on Tourism Towards Disaster
The
case in NTB can also be found in other tourism destination sites across
Indonesia, with different threats and setting. The Ministry of Tourism
responded to the situation by declaring the Regulation Number 10 the Year 2019 on
Tourism Crisis Management which is complimentary with the Standard Operation
Procedure (SOP) on the Activism of Tourism Crisis Centre (TCC). The regulation
explicitly mentions the framework in managing the tourism crisis, which
includes: preparedness and mitigation, emergency response, recovery, and
normalization. The regulation also regulates the establishment of TCC at national
and province levels, under the Ministry and Head of Tourism Office. As a pilot
or model for the implementation of this policy is rolled out in three areas
tourism destination areas, which are: Riau, West Java, and NTB. The
socialization of this regulation in NTB itself has been conducted in Mataram on
19 September 2019.
The
NTB Province Government, through Culture and Tourism Office (DISBUDPAR) took a
positive response on this policy by preparing the implementation of this
project and outlined its targets, include: 1) reducing the impact of
disaster, 2) inventory and managing the tourism amenities, 3) inventory and
managing the tourism attractions, 4) recovery image through tourism promotion,
5) renovation of amenities and tourist attractions that affected by disasters,
6) development of free taxation for 1 year for the tourism industries, 7)
facilitating and monitoring the soft loan for the recovery of tourism
amenities and 8) conducting tourism training in improving the quality of
tourism human resources in disaster-affected areas.
While
in the context of recovery, the NTB DISBUDPAR emphasizes in recovering the
tourism sector focusing on human resources and industries, destinations, and
marketing. One of the examples of this tourism, recovery is by developing a
Recovery Strategy for Affected Tourism Sites. The Recovery Strategy would
include the establishment of a tourism recovery team under the NTB Governor,
meetings with the General Managers of the hotel in the tourism sites, inventory
of damages, problems, and available proper accommodation, recovery of national
news on the evacuation process, recovery in promoting the tourism sites,
renovation of tourism facilities, and development of post-disaster proposals.
Promotion
of Tourism Recovery in Lombok
Beside
the program and regulation above, the NTB Province Government also develops a
Village Tourism Program in 99 villages starting this year until 2023. The
Village Tourism is a concept of rural areas development that offers the natural the setting of the social-economic, social-culture, tradition, custom, building
architect and village spatial, economic uniqueness and attraction that has the
potential to be developed into various tourisms spots, such as: attraction,
accommodation, food courts, and other tourism needs[3].
This program is also one of the NTB Province Government’s strategies in
eliminating poverty.
Despite,
the fact that the program and policy on tourism crisis management have been
applied in NTB, yet the coordination between inter-government agencies at
province and municipality levels need to be improved. Tourism crisis management
is not just a mandate of the DISPARBUD, it is also involved the role of
multi-stakeholder, include a) Disaster Management Office (BPBD) – to raise
awareness and tourism preparedness in disaster, b) Search and Rescue
Office (BASARDA) and Local Police Station (POLRES) – to outline the standard
safety and security for tourism travels, c) Office for Environmental and
Forestry (DLHK) – for environmental protection and tourism green awareness,
d) Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG) Mataram Station to implement
early warning system on disasters, e) Village Community Empowerment
and Government Office (DPMPD) – to develop a community-based program focusing
on empowerment and village resource management for tourism, f) Health Bureau –
to promote hygiene, clean water, and sanitation as part of tourism health
promotion, and many other agencies with their own specific role and task contributing
to tourism management.
Furthermore,
The government of NTB is targeting to reach 4,5 million tourists in 2020. In
order to reach this number, the Vice Governor of NTB Province, Mrs. Siti Rohmi
advised the key success in the tourism sector is by ensuring the Safety,
Convenient, Cleanliness, and Hospitality of the communities in NTB[4]. The communities have a front and significant role in
improving the tourism sector, not just as beneficiaries, but also as actors.
The Government of NTB also needs to improve the communities’ skills and
knowledge, as well as strengthen their capacity through creative tourism
professions, such as tour guides, local accommodation providers, tourism package
services, and others.
In
overall, the recovery of the tourism sector in NTB Province needs to be
supported not just with the policy and regulation but also involving
stakeholder engagement and community ownership. A Tourism Disaster Preparedness Program, such as Tsunami and Earthquake Readiness in Bali can be taken as an example
to be implemented by the Government of NTB. With the progressive development in
tourism, I strongly believe that NTB can achieve its 4,5 million tourists
target, even become one of the world's best tourism destinations.
Note:
For some information about Lombok Tourism Sites, kindly visit my personal blog in:
Lombok Utara
http://familygateway.blogspot.com/2020/01/bale-jukung-tropical-hut-cafe-in-lombok.html
Lombok Barat
http://familygateway.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-business-and-pleasure-trip-to-senggigi.html
http://familygateway.blogspot.com/2019/09/lombok-halal-tourism-destination.html
Lombok Utara
http://familygateway.blogspot.com/2019/07/saifana-organic-farm-oasis-in-dry-land.html
http://yuniarti4drr.blogspot.com/2019/06/chocolate-factory-in-small-village.html
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