Hawkers, vendors, amateur guides, tourist nuisances
By Putu Wirata
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Tourism is the major economic backbone of Bali, but visitors have often complained of being annoyed by hawkers, amateur guides and other local vendors in the street while visiting cultural and religious sites on this resort island.
Near the lake of Batur in Kintamani, one of the island's famous volcanic sites, hundreds of hawkers chase visitors.
They offer a wide variety of handicrafts, souvenirs, textiles, food and fruit.
At other sites, like the Besakih temple in Karang Asem, Ubud, Kuta, visitors are often annoyed by vendors.
"At Besakih temple, local teenagers often blackmail foreign visitors," commented a tour guide from Denpasar. He once accompanied a French visitor to the temple. In front of the temple, they were prevented from entering the place of worship.
In a corner of the temple, some boys waved their hands and called visitors over to them.
"We can guide you to the most sacred place pedharman, the ancestors' worship place," said a boy showing the visitor down a narrow and winding path. The boy forced the visitor to give him Rp 200,000.
"They threatened to leave the visitor alone in the temple," the guide said.
A few years ago, several prominent people in Kintamani established Yayasan Bintang Danu (the Bintang Danu Foundation) which aims at educating locals on how to properly serve and treat domestic and foreign visitors.
"They shouldn't force guests to buy their souvenirs. If they like the goods they will buy them," said the guide.
The guide said he was embarrassed to see his peers improperly treating visitors to the island. "The worst thing is they often cheat foreigners," he said.
They usually offer the guests a wide range of handicrafts, garments and other souvenirs, mostly of good quality.
Citing an example, a vendor offered a wood statue for Rp 400,000. The guest bargained the price down to only Rp 40,000.
"Don't be happy. You may be cheated by the seller who changes it to a lower quality one," he said.
In Besakih, sellers of salak Bali (snake fruit) have frequently tricked buyers.
The Bali chapter of the Indonesian Travel Agent Association have complained to the local government. The association's members have temporarily stopped visiting several spots in Bali, including Batur Lake in Kintamani, in strong protest over improper business practices and inappropriate behavior of local vendors and guides.
Wayan Ariawan, a local lawyer, sees this phenomenon as a "counter attack" launched by local residents in some famous tourist destinations in Bali.
"It is merely caused by social jealousy and a wide social and economic gap between locals, officials of tourist-related industries and the bureaucrats," Wayan explained.
Wayan said professional travel agencies generate quite a lot of profit from promoting Balinese destinations, while the locals gain almost nothing from the tourism.
"Most locals have inadequate education to cope with the rapid development in tourism. They have been left behind by the government and private sectors," Wayan said.
All agencies affiliated with tourism must involve the locals, he said. They can provide short courses on foreign languages, hotels and tourism, and any activities which are related to tourism, he said.
"Educating the local community will certainly take quite a long time," Wayan said.
But if the government and all businesses in the tourism sector ignore the potential of the local community, the future of Balinese tourism will be bleak as many more locals will be disappointed and angry at the visitors, he said.