THE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT "COMPARISON BETWEEN INDONESIA AND AUSTRALIA

"Tourism in International Relations"
Lecture : Drs Usmar Salam MIS
Name : Fanny Riza Aftiyani
Number : 07/250490/sp/21972

THE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT "COMPARISON BETWEEN INDONESIA AND AUSTRALIA"

Sustainable Tourism Development

Countries and regions where the economy is driven by the tourism industry have become increasingly concerned with the environmental, as well as the socio-cultural problems associated with unsustainable tourism. As a result, there is now increasing agreement on the need to promote sustainable tourism development to minimize its environmental impact and to maximize socio-economic overall benefits at tourist destinations. The concept of sustainable tourism, as developed by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) in the context of the United Nations

Sustainable development process, refers to tourist activities “Leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support

systems”.

International efforts to promote sustainable tourism development

Although tourism was not specifically addressed in Agenda 21 its growing economic importance, significant use of natural resources and environmental impact all contributed to its gradual introduction into the international sustainable development agenda over the past ten years. One of the first concrete sector action plans arising from the increasing cooperation between the tourism industry and inter-governmental agencies was ‘Agenda 21 for the Travel and Tourism Industry,’ an action plan for sustainable tourism development launched by the WTO, in cooperation with two business associations, In 1997, the United Nations General Assembly, at its special session to review the five-year implementation of Agenda 21, decided that there was a need to consider the importance of tourism and to “develop an action-oriented international program of work on sustainable tourism”.

This request was followed up during the seventh annual session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), which considered tourism as an economic sector, held a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the topic and adopted an international work programme on sustainable tourism development. One of the major follow-up activities to the CSD international work programme on sustainable tourism has been the ongoing development of international guidelines for sustainable tourism by the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The draft international guidelines stress that “to be sustainable, tourism should be managed within the carrying capacity and limits of each ecosystem and site”.

The seventh session of the CSD also invited the WTO to further develop its proposed global code of ethics that had been drafted in consultation with the tourism industry over the previous two years. The ‘Global Code of Ethics for Tourism,’ introduced by the WTO, sets a frame of reference for the responsible and sustainable development of international tourism. It includes nine articles outlining the basic rules for governments, tour operators, developers, travel agents, workers, as well as host communities and the tourists themselves. The tenth article includes a proposed mechanism for conciliation, through the creation of a World Committee on Tourism Ethics made up of representatives of each region of the world and representatives of each group of stakeholders in the tourism sector, Governments, the private sector, and labour and non-governmental organizations.

The Plan of Implementation adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), identified further measures to promote sustainable tourism development, with a view to increasing “the benefits from tourism resources for the population in host communities while maintaining the cultural and environmental integrity of the host communities and enhancing the protection of ecologically sensitive areas and natural heritages”. As similar international actions plans show, the WSSD Plan of Implementation is likely to induce States to take more progressive steps towards better governance and sustainable development. However, achieving the sustainable tourism goals contained in the WSSD Plan of Implementation will require systematic action and the availability of adequate resources at both national and international levels.

Comparing Concept And The Implementation Between 2 Countries (Indonesia And Australia)

Sustainable Tourism Development in Indonesia

Indonesia as a developing country it’s not easy 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.

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.

Sustainable Tourism Principles

Sustainable tourism is one approach to development of the tourism industry designed to provide a context that can guide choices, bring together stakeholders so they act in the common interest and help decision-makers see more clearly how to balance the positive and negative impacts at present and in the future. When decided to develop the tourism industry, there are many different forms of tourism that vary according to the location, the interests of the tourists and the tourism resources that are available. However, there are certain positive impacts of tourism that are expected to contribute to development. For example, economy support of a community, new employment is created, community stability can be maintained, amenities in the area are enhanced and the community can build a sense of pride and local identity. At the same time, planners and stakeholders have to take into account possible negative impacts from tourism.

The practice of sustainable tourism development is based on management of capacities and sites, namely carrying capacity that will measure the level of use that is sustainable. However in the management of tourism, carrying capacity approach becomes more important to be implemented by focusing a number of issues to be addressed. Say that every environment serves multiple purposes and sensitivity to different use levels depends on the values of all users in terms of any different types of use has different impacts. Carrying capacity can be useful because it draws attention to limits and thresholds beyond which a site should not be developed. There are a number of ways to measure carrying capacity, including tangible resource limits, tolerance by the host population, visitor satisfaction, rates of growth, and other quantifiable indicators.

Tourism Policy

Indonesian government view tourism as a vehicle for economic development, given its potential to earn foreign exchange, create employment, reduce income and employment disparities, strengthen linkages among economic sectors and help to alleviate poverty. In order to sustain tourism, it is necessary for government to address various issues arising from tourism’s contribution to development in a comprehensive, systematic way. Issues of policy-making, planning, management and the participation of the private sector and other stakeholders must be addressed in terms of opportunities for action and possible constraints that need to be overcome by concerted efforts.

The challenge facing by government as policy-makers is to have a broader perspective and better understanding that there can be both positive and negative effects from tourism development. Moreover, a broader perspective challenges all stakeholders involved with tourism from the community level to the national level to find the means to work together in more proactive ways that will increase the positive effects and minimize the possible negative effects of tourism development. Some creations that we can get from sustainable tourism development are as follows:

1. Sustainable tourism development provides the opportunity to take proactive approaches based on broad participation by stakeholders, which would contribute to more effective policies and plans. This would increase the opportunities to realize the full social and economic potential of the tourism industry.

2. Sustainable tourism development creates the opportunity for governments and all stakeholders in the tourism sector to aim at ensuring long-term prosperity and quality of life for future generations.

3. Sustainable tourism development also creates opportunities to preserve natural and cultural heritages for tourists and local people in ways that address development problems and reduce risks to the environment and ways of life.

The government realize the aspect on how important to make proper use of local resources, how to develop human resources for community-based tourism and management of cultural and heritage sites and where to find the financial resources to support environmental protection and promote community-based tourism in more remote areas that are less developed. Another aspect relates to what Indonesia need in order develop tourism that would be economically viable, socio-culturally acceptable and environmentally sustainable. This involves process of enhancing national capabilities to take actions to tourism that would bring benefits to wide segments of society, and finding ways to ensure that benefits should be shared equitably among various stakeholders.

In Indonesian where authority is being decentralized and greater public participation is being encouraged, the government at national and regional level might also evaluate investment policies and regulations to encourage a wide variety of arrangements that could enhance private sector participation in sustainable tourism development. This will involve careful decision-making and planning to balance accessibility with carrying capacity at all levels, especially in communities. Sustainable tourism development should also be responsive to rapid changes and new demands in the international tourist market.

Tourism and innovation policies in Australia

According to the latest available statistics from the Australian Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA), tourism contributed A$38.9 billion to Australia's GDP in 2006-07, representing around 3.7% of the Australian economy. The industry held a relatively higher share in terms of Australian employment (4.7%, or 482,800 jobs) and exports (10.5%, or A$22.4 billion).

Australia's national tourism strategy recognises innovation as an important aspect of Australia's international tourism competitiveness. Under the heading of 'growing high-yield tourism', the tourism strategy notes that:

Like other market sectors, tourism customers are attracted to the diverse range of new and innovative products and experiences provided by the market. Such innovation and improvement is the basis of growth and success. Australia needs to be at the forefront of such innovation, with a focus on developing high-yield market segments.

Important for this is the skill-base of the Australian tourism workforce which the strategy states “must comprise skilled professionals who are able to contribute to enterprise innovation and are also able to enjoy attractive career opportunities within the industry”.

Although the Australian tourism strategy states that, “Industry is best placed to make decisions about which market segments it will seek to attract as it is at the operational level that innovation and entrepreneurship can be undertaken to seize niche market opportunities in a timely manner”. It is clear that, as in other countries that have developed national innovation policies, government is still regarded as having a vital facilitative role with respect to innovation, including direct funding assistance for research and development. Indeed, the aim of the Australian government tourism White Paper was:

Not to present a prescriptive or complete set of medium to long term strategies for tourism, but instead to provide a robust structural base to support a tourism industry that is more innovative, flexible and adaptable and which is better equipped to meet the challenges of the future.

Given the focus on innovation in Australia's national tourism policy, it is therefore appropriate to judge how innovation policy supports tourism innovation.

According to the 'Innovation Action Plan', the Australian Government believed:

Innovation - developing skills, generating new ideas through research, and turning them into commercial success - is key to Australia's future prosperity. Innovation is not only the province of new or high tech industries, but also essential to the future of many of our traditional sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and mining.

To oversee the implementation of Backing Australia's Ability, a high-level committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, the Minister for Education, Science and Training and the Minister for Finance and Administration was established. Although tourism was based within one of the Departments responsible for the innovation strategy (the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources), tourism was not a focal point for national innovation. In fact, tourism was hardly mentioned at all. In an analysis of Australian government reports of the innovation strategy from 2001 to 2006, tourism was only cited twice, and this was only in terms of projects that may have value for tourism rather than being tourism specific projects.

The Australian situation government was therefore one in which innovation was given substantial prominence in the national tourism policy in the form of the White Paper but did not feature in formal innovation policy, even though both policies emerged from the same departmental structures. However, it is also important to note that the implementation plan for the Tourism White Paper only explicitly refers to implementation once, and that was in the context of a 'whole-of-government approach to tourism'

The government is achieving the whole-of-government approach through a range of new collaborative mechanisms, including:

• a new Intergovernmental Arrangement between the Australian Government and the states and territories;
• the annual Tourism Industry Government Forum; and
• the Industry Implementation Advisory Group

Similarly, the implementation plan did not relate the strategy to the Australian government's innovation policies and strategies. Although, there was argue, this is not to suggest that sections of either the national tourism strategy or its implementation plan are not relevant to innovation. Increasing collaboration can clearly be of benefit for innovation, while there is a section on 'enhancing research and statistics' that, most importantly with respect to knowledge transfer, stated that Tourism Research Australia would develop an Information Dissemination Strategy.

However, what neither the national innovation strategy nor the national tourism strategy actually addressed was how tourism was going to be strengthened in terms of either specific tourism innovation policies, for example, relating to skills, entrepreneurship and new product development, or generic policies, such as immigration, foreign investment, or taxation.

Following the Government Policy in the 2007 after federal election, the new Labour Government has begun the process of placing their own mark on tourism and innovation policies. On May 2008, Minister for Tourism, announced the development of a National Long-Term Tourism Strategy, which continued the separation between innovation policy and tourism policy.