Thematic villages: tourist interest in changing lives of inhabitants in Indonesia
Keywords
Loading...
Authors
Issue Date
2024-06-21
Language
en
Document type
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Title
ISSN
Volume
Issue
Startpage
Endpage
DOI
Abstract
In this research, the impacts of fluctuating tourists' interest on the socio-economic lives of inhabitants in Thematic Villages have been examined with a special focus on Kampung Pelangi in Semarang. Thematic Villages are a program which designates and transforms different villages with a theme, to become tourist destinations to overcome poverty and create better living conditions. The city of Semarang in Indonesia developed a Thematic Kampung Program in 2006 and created 177 Thematic Villages. Out of these villages, the most popular outcome of the Thematic Kampung Program; Kampung Pelangi (Rainbow Village) was used in this study as a case to represent all Thematic Villages. Kampung Pelangi was realized via a top-down approach after the village of Wonosari, a slum village, was chosen to be painted in all the colors of the rainbow following the mayor's idea to create a backdrop for the renovated flower market. Tourist interest was high following the transformation but as the paint started to fade, this tourists interest decreased. To research the impacts of these tourist fluctuations, mixed qualitative research in the form of interviews with eleven inhabitants and one government member was conducted. Additionally, internet research was used to investigate the tourist interest in Kampung Pelangi. It was found that overall, the realization of Kampung Pelangi as a thematic village had positive effects on the social life of the village during the touristic peak. The inhabitants became more socially connected, felt pride in their village, created a cleaner environment and started managing their village following the transformation. Economically, inhabitants experienced increased wealth from tourists by selling more; both food and souvenirs, opening more shops and receiving fees and donations. Crowding was reported as a slight negative effect of the high tourist interest. During the decline in tourists, inhabitants mentioned a feeling of disappointment in the government and experienced a loss of pride in the village. Overall, the quantity of all positive socio-economic effects faded tied with the tourist interest fading, but the village remained more socially connected.
It is debatable whether the socio-economic effects will be maximized again, as it is unclear who is responsible for the management of the village. Thematic villages and the tourists coming with them, provide positive effects, but proper governance is necessary to keep the effects of tourist equity- enhancing. Since Kampung Pelangi is more popular than most Thematic Villages, the impact of tourist fluctuations on the socio-economic lives of inhabitants is amplified and may not be as significant in smaller villages. All with all, Thematic Villages provide great opportunities for countries to create equity-enhancing and sustainable urban development. In addition, this study highlights the importance of establishing clear boundaries regarding responsibility following the transformation into a Thematic Village to prevent feelings of disappointment among inhabitants.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen