Comparison Between Australia and Indonesia Sustainable Tourism Development

"tourism in international relations"
Lecture: Drs Usmar Salam MIS
Bernadeta Firstiana (07/250069/SP/21885)
R.7 No: 14
"Comparison Between Australia and Indonesia Sustainable Tourism Development"




"Comparison Between Australia and Indonesia Sustainable Tourism Development"

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN AUSTRALIA
Australia’s natural and cultural assets are a major drawcard for international visitors. Protection and conservation of these assets is essential for the survival and sustainable growth of the tourism industry over the longer term. The challenge for Australia is to encourage the development and management of tourism products and services that will provide economic and social benefits to local communities while protecting and enhancing our natural and cultural attributes. Under the Tourism Australia Act (2004), Tourism Australia has a statutory obligation to help foster a sustainable tourism industry in Australia. Australian goverments committed to achieving environmental and social sustainability in our business operations at Sydney headquarters and through doing so becoming a valuable member of the Sydney community. To achieve these goals, they have committed to develop and implement an environmental action plan for our own operations in accordance with the requirements of the Green Globe Company Standard that will be implemented over future months. Seek accreditation through the Green Globe programme, they will develop and implement an environmental and social sustainability policy and conduct regular energy and waste audits. Tourism Australia's headquarters will comply with all relevant legislation and regulations; we will strive to achieve international best practice in the operation of an administrative office.
Responsibility for our sustainability activity has been allocated to a senior member of the management team, who has responsibility for ensuring Tourism Australia’s ongoing environmental performance, identification of environmental risks, recording and monitoring of impacts and implementing environmental and social sustainability measures. With unique and internationally important natural and cultural assets, Australia is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. This has both benefits and costs for the economy, the environment and for the Australian people. Around five million international visitors come to Australia every year and around 600,000 of these visitors are from Japan. Australia tries to ensure a balance between development for tourism and the protection of the natural environment for the use and enjoyment by future generations.
Australia is a world leader in ecotourism, a special form of sustainable tourism that encourages environmental and cultural understanding, and appreciation and conservation of natural areas. Australia’s federal, state and local governments and the tourism industry are working together to make sure that tourism continues to be sustainable and that the impacts of tourism on the environment and Aboriginal cultural heritage are being carefully managed and protected. A number of environmental laws govern the conservation and protection of the environment and various permits, licences or approvals are required for activities in or near protected areas.
The indigenous peoples of Australia, the original owners of the land, control many of these permits and have a strong connection to the natural environment. They are actively involved in tourism and resource management. While protecting Australia for the future, they increase cultural understanding, maintain their traditions and gain other social and economic benefits. One example of resource management for sustainable tourism is Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory. Famous for its giant sandstone monolith, Uluru, the Park receives around 400,000 visitors each year. Uluru is the name given to the rock by its Aboriginal traditional owners, the Anangu. In 1985 ownership of the land was returned to these traditional owners by the government, which then leased it back from them.
The Department of Environment and Heritage and the Anangu now jointly manage the Park and there is also a tourism committee for consultation between the tourism industry and park management. The Anangu people have developed their own thriving tourist enterprises at Uluru, to share their culture and beliefs and reap the economic benefits of interest in their ancient stories and rituals. The Anangu have very special ways of understanding their lands, with stories about how different landforms and animals were created. Their dances also tell many of these creation stories as do special ceremonies for acting out spiritual understandings. When tourists visit the Park they can meet the traditional owners and have a unique opportunity to see Uluru from a perspective that is tens of thousands of years old. Hearing the tale of the Wallaby man is often a highlight of any visit.
The role of Anangu in developing tourist activities allows them to decide how sacred sites and rock paintings can be best protected. It provides the people with employment and means they don’t need to move hundreds of kilometres away from their traditional land to find other work. With insight into their traditions enabling them to find employment, young people are keen to gain this knowledge and keep their history and beliefs alive.
As well as Aboriginal-led talks and tours, there are other initiatives to protect the national park from the harmful effects of tourism. The camping ground, hotel and shops which were near the base of Uluru were closed down and removed and the area rehabilitated. The new facilities are 10 kilometres away, outside the national park, and designed with low-rise architecture and desert colours in keeping with the natural environment. Roads have been improved and walking tracks constructed so people don’t need to walk through sensitive areas. To cater for ever increasing numbers of tourists with different needs, a new wilderness hotel has been built in line with the world’s best environmental controls and with ecotourism principles initiated in Australia. This complex was one of the first tourism developments approved by the Government under strict environmental regulations. Using natural and cultural resources responsibly for sustainable tourism not only increases understanding and appreciation, but also gives people great enjoyment and economic benefits. Most Australian tourist operators are supportive of conservation measures protecting the environment their customers want to see. As for the tourists themselves, they may have the best of intentions, but sometimes inadvertently damage the very places they have come to enjoy. Learning about sustainable tourism is therefore an important and fascinating aspect of any visit to Australia.

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN INDONESIA
It is not easy to Indonesia as a developing country to gain economic benefit from tourism development, because of limited funding, the geographical position, and the quality of human resources. In an international context, Indonesia achieves only a relatively low number of tourists coming from its neighboring countries. This is probably due to a very small chance to promote the short-vacation market due to the geographical location of Indonesia, which is relatively far from a potential market such as the European Union or Japan. Further, a low quality of the human resources involved in the tourism industry in Indonesia and various changes in the national tourism development such as uncertainty policies causes negative impacts and consequently results in a low performance in their tourism development. It can be said that the main indicator of low tourism performance in Indonesia might have contributed to the fact that Indonesia has failed to increase tourist visit quota in the last decade. Regarding that, the government nowadays was put forward that in the future the orientation of the national tourism development would focus tourism development based on nature and culture.
The Indonesian government believes those natural and cultural are the potential tourism assets that could bring benefits to the local people and the country, if the proper roles of government prepare designated regions for tourists by good planning, minimizing the harmful influences of tourists and protecting the local culture and way-of-life. This has been adopted as the template for tourism planning and development throughout the country, which consist of around 400 autonomous regencies that want to gain economic benefit from tourism sector. Furthermore the national government realized both the potential and pitfalls of tourism as an engine of economic and social development for Indonesia. To avoid the negative effects of unregulated and uncontrolled growth, a national master plan for sustainable tourism development for the entire country was mapped out, supported by international agencies such as UNDF UNESCO, WTO, and ILO working closely with the appropriate government departments. Moreover, provincial master plans for tourism development that assess tourism’s social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts in detail and guide its growth also have been produced for selected provinces.
Sustainable development in Indonesia is the continuation of development process in the country through time. This view is reflected in the planning documents, such as the long, medium, and short term of development at both national and sub-national levels. The issuance of a number of laws and regulation regarding national development is meant to provide strong legal bases for sustainability of development. Reformation euphoria has led to regional autonomy and decentralization, and presenting different challenges to the sustainability of development in Indonesia, such as lack of capacity at sub-national levels, social unrest due to area contraction, spread of corruption to sub-national levels, etc. Global warming has also affected Indonesia, with climate change, and emerging diseases
Nevertheless, there are a number of opportunities that might be used to address the issues and challenges mentioned above. For instance, the capacity building programs for sub-national officials, State Finance Law that mandated performance-based budgeting to boost performance of both central and local government institutions, with more appropriate indicators. International commitments made by Indonesia’s government also provide the push factor for the government to reinforce more sustainable development. Commitment at regional level such as ASEAN Charter, which has just recently signed by Indonesia, will provide ample opportunity to increase the sustainability of development of Indonesia with the support from all member countries, as well as the dialogue countries. Presently, the Government of Indonesia is preparing a number of background studies for the next medium term development plan (RPJMN 2010-2014). Most of the issues and challenges as mentioned above are also addressed in those studies. The next medium term plan would be the test of the Long Term National Development Plan Law. Sustainable development in Indonesia has certainly forming a strong foundation, and hopefully will be able to bring Indonesia to the best development achievement through time, and thus realizing the vision of the state, welfare and justice for all Indonesians.
Three priorities can be identified. First, efforts must be sustained to enhance public awareness and advocacy of environmentally conscious value-systems. This needs to be done at all levels, in the private sector, amongst local governments and within Indonesia’s rapidly growing civil society organizations. Enhanced public awareness, governmental supervision and management’s consciousness will set a backdrop under which industry will sustain environmental conservation. Second, the efforts to promote cleaner production and the transfer of Environmentally Sound Technology need reinvigoration. Third, the recognition of environmentally sound performance must be highlighted as a critical component of good corporate governance at a time when Indonesian industry is under pressure to reform business practice and compete successfully in the global economy.


Sources
http://www.ide.go.jp/Japanese/Ideas/pdf/followup_14/03.pdf
http://www.tourism.australia.com/AboutUs.asp?lang=EN&sub=0303
http://www.budpar.go.id/filedata/4032_1283-STRATEGICSUSTAINABLETOURISMDEVELOPMENT.pdf
http://www.ies.unsw.edu.au/Zoldsite/about/staff/franksFiles/Presentations/UNSW%20Lecture%203-6-02.pdf
http://www.hopeaustralia.org.au/library_resources/Reports/EnvironmentAustralia/EA_Sustainable%20Development%20in%20Australia%20(Aug%202002).pdf?ac89fb5f049f88da77faed2af88c9f4c=b5fe48187a4928f2b0b0b5b47ba7a550
http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/import/userfiles/hartmany/indonesia_e.pdf