Provinces will have greater say in tourism, official says
Provinces will have greater say in tourism, official says
By I. Christianto
NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): Local authorities will have a greater
say in developing the tourism industry under the newly approved
Law on Regional Autonomy, according to a senior tourism official.
Director General of Tourism I. Gede Ardika said here on
Wednesday that the new law, which is still waiting for the
President's endorsement, gave the authorities at provincial and
regency levels the power to decide what kinds of tourism projects
should receive first priority.
"The directorate general will only prepare the national master
plan on tourism," he told a seminar at the Bali Travel Mart.
He said each province would be able develop its own tourist
industry, including the promotion of tourist sites both at home
and overseas.
The House of Representatives passed last April Regional
Autonomy Law No. 22/1999, which allows regional administrations
and legislatures to manage their own affairs as well increasing
their freedom and responsibility.
The House has also approved the Law on Intergovernmental
Fiscal Balance to allow local authorities to gain larger parts of
state revenue from local resources. Both laws will not become
effective until one year after the President's endorsement.
Ardika said that local authorities would arrange many things
themselves, for instance, choosing and developing a product.
Licensing would also be the responsibility of local
authorities, while general affairs like security and safety or
hotel classification would still be handled nationally, he said.
"I am convinced the next government will continue this policy
since it has already been passed by the House. There has been
several steps in preparing the regional autonomy law, in which
each of the 27 provinces in Indonesia has a district as a pilot
project," Ardika said.
Indonesia is likely to have a new government after the
presidential election in November, following the recent general
election.
Weak enforcement
I. Gede Pitana, another speaker at the seminar, said Bali
should be proud to have a master plan for tourism development.
"Unfortunately, the master plan has not been followed by with
detailed plans, except in some areas. The enforcement of the
plan, if there is any, is weak," he continued.
Pitana, who is the secretary of the Research Center for
Culture and Tourism at Bali's Udayana University, said the result
was unplanned, sporadic physical development, causing problems
such as massive land conversion, water shortages, traffic jams,
air pollution, forced land acquisition, chained beach abrasion
and marginalization of the local population.
"At the end, this model destroyed the physical environment
of the island," he said.
He admitted that tourism has significantly improved the
prosperity of the population in this culturally rich island.
Speaking about "reinventing" Bali, Pitana said there should be
a reinvention and reinterpretation of cultural tourism.
"Internal balance among culture, economics and the environment
must be sought. This is the implementation of the concept of sus
tainable tourism development in a Balinese context," he said,
adding that popular participation was a key for sustainable tour
ism development.