IDF 2019 Selected Speaker: Monitta Putri Lisa Mary: Lessons Learned from Banyuwangi to Prevent Leakage in Tourism

Monitta Putri Lisa Mary

Tourism can help boost local revenue as long as the income gained from tourists can be returned to the local community. This is what linkage means. This was conveyed by the 2019 IDF Nominated Speaker: Monitta Putri Lisa Mary in a study entitled ‘The Tourism Regional Planning Concept to Minimize Leakage and Stimulate the Local Workforce: A case study of Banyuwangi’. The opposite of linkage is leakage. And this happens when income from tourists doing shopping in the area is not received by the local community. Instead, it is leaked everywhere. 

"Banyuwangi government tries to overcome this problem by issuing a policy that aims to manage leakage and linkage through spatial planning. It manages to reduce leakage and encourage linkage to increase local people's income," said Monitta, who is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in International Sustainable Tourism Management at Monash University, Australia.

Monitta is interested in developing sustainable and resilient planning for the development of Indonesia's tourism sector. In 2015 - 2018, Monita worked at the Deputy for Monitoring and Evaluation of Priority Programs in the fields of industry, tourism, and energy, to ensure that the national priority program targets were achieved at the Presidential Special Office.

Through research in Banyuwangi, Monita found that local government policies in implementing spatial planning can limit the role of big players in Banyuwangi to control the tourism industry. This policy took place in the government of Regent Abdullah Azwar Annas (2010-2015 and 2015-2020). 

"The community gets to enjoy the share of development by establishing homestays, restaurants, and local retail stores," Monita said.

As a result, based on statistical data from Banyuwangi Regency, the number of homestays in 2009 was 1,594, increasing rapidly to 2,171 rooms in 2015. While the number of restaurants soared up from 89 in 2012 to 251 in 2017. Community income per capita is directly proportional to the increase in tourist visits to Banyuwangi. Based on the 2016-2021 Banyuwangi Regency Medium Term Development Plan document listed in Monitta research, it was stated that the income per capita of the Banyuwangi community has grown from Rp 23 million in 2011 to Rp 33 million in 2014.d 

With the implementation of spatial regional planning, the environment can be protected from big actors doing harmful practices.

"In addition, because it focuses on community-based tourism, it is hoped that the local people are encouraged to protect the natural environment where they live," Monitta said.   

Thanks to Good Planning

The successful development of tourism in Banyuwangi was the result of good planning by the local government.

"Development planning in tourism is a luxury," said Monita. 

She emphasized this because there is a tendency for areas to instantly become the intended destination by a huge wave of tourists. They are not ready with planning, and therefore this huge influx of tourists cannot be made sustainable. According to him, often people think that planning is only on the shoulders of the Ministry of Tourism. When in fact the biggest authority lies in the regional government.

"The local government has the authority to make spatial planning, for the tourist areas. This planning has to encourage tourists to visit various locations in the area and to build collaboration among stakeholders," said Monitta.  

How does the tourism master plan made by Banyuwangi Regency look like? Basically, hotels with star ratings in Banyuwangi are in the city center. The development of the tourism area is directed to the three main attractions that are built. In this process, the community is interested in being involved in building homestays and holding tourism activities.

Three Banyuwangi Tourism Development Areas (WPPs) are known as the diamond triangle.  The three areas include WPP Ijen Crater that carries the theme of mountainous nature, WPP Plengkung which is in the coastal and savanna areas, and WPP Sukamade which focuses on Meru Betiri National Park and turtle breeding.

The tourism master plan also presents the development of small industrial centers, such as processed food, clothing, and leather, handicrafts and metals tailored to the needs of each tourist attraction. Cooperation is established between stakeholders, including the national park manager.

"The Banyuwangi Regency Government made an MoU between entrepreneurs, banks, PT. Perhutani and managers of the National Park to improve infrastructure without conflicts of interest," wrote Monitta.

Monita gave an example of the practice in Kemiren Village where traditional customs were threatened with extinction and the people were dependent on the agricultural sector. In 2014, the government worked with commercial banks to start a low-interest homestay program. Homestay is marketed through Village-Owned Enterprises (BUMDes) in the hope that there is an even distribution of occupancy rates. 

"This strategy can become a win-win solution for the problem of poverty because the local people will have alternatives or additional income, while the traditional village culture of Kemiren is maintained," Monitta continued.

Local cultures such as Gandrung, Patrol, Seblang, Angklung, Barong Dance, Kuntulan, Kendang Kempul, Janger, Jaranan, Jaran Kincak, Angklung Caruk can be used to develop diversified cultural tourism products.

Five Things Banyuwangi Did to Develop Tourism

Monita said that this case study of Banyuwangi can be replicated with necessary adaptation, considering that tourism is currently growing rapidly.  There are five things that must be considered for that.

First, there must be a regional tourism planning that takes into account the balance between linkage and leakage. Second, there should be businesses owned by the local community. In this case, there needs to be a policy that makes it easy for people to open businesses in the tourism industry. Third, related to the level of jobs/work that community can do. She reminded that the government needs to make an inventory of talents and interests of community members at the grassroot level. 

“More and more local workers can be employed in tourism: this should be using a bottom-up approach and training at different levels," explained Monitta.

Fourth, connecting the local industry and tourism. For example, connecting local suppliers and local products with demands from restaurants, hotels and other tourism activities.

"Often, this link is hampered because local products cannot meet demands, so hotels and restaurants must import from outside," Monitta continued.

These obstacles can be overcome by collecting long-term needs which are then linked to a roadmap to meet those needs.

Fifth, boosting the number of visitors through events. Banyuwangi continues to develop events every year. If in 2011 there were only 12 events, in 2018 there were 77 events.

“Not only to send tourists to different places, the placement of events at the three points of attraction is very important to increase visiting times and ensure homestay occupancy levels remain stable," Monitta said again.

Monitta's research on good practices of sustainable tourism in Banyuwangi was presented at the Accelerating Structural Transformation session at IDF 2019 on July 22. This research is part of the discussions of sub-theme 1, Accelerating Structural Transformation, as part of the main theme of IDF 2019, "Mission Possible: Seizing the Opportunities of Future Work to Drive Inclusive Growth."