Indonesia Hopes ‘Tourism Villages’ Will Empower Communities

The Jakarta Globe, Nurfika Osman, October 20, 2009

In an attempt to boost the tourism sector about 200 villages across the country are to be developed into “tourism villages” next year, with funding coming principally from the National Program for Community Empowerment, an official said on Monday.

“Each would-be village will be given funds ranging from Rp 80 million to Rp 100 million [$8,480 to $10,600],” said Winarno Sudjas, secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Destinations Development Division.

The announcement came a day after an industry operator blamed the government for the nation’s poor showing in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2009, which ranked Indonesia 81 out of 133 countries surveyed, suggesting that the country must do more to boost tourism.

According to the survey, which was conducted by the Switzerland-based World Economic Forum, Indonesia trailed far behind Singapore, which was 10th, Malaysia at 32nd, Thailand 39th and Brunei 69th.

Indonesia fared slightly better than the Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia, which finished 86th, 89th, and 108th, respectively.

The top three were Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

According to Sudjas, all villages in the archipelago may submit proposals to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to take part in the plan.

The proposals will be examined by a special team, which has the final say on which village receive funding.

Sudjas said the money would be used by villagers to construct tourist accommodations, train local youths to become guides, preserve and produce local dishes and fund other leisure activities.

“We want to empower the villages by helping them increase their potential and fix their shortcomings,” Sudjas said.

He said this program gave the villages more power to develop as they wished because the central government would provide funds for renovations, while also monitoring how the money was spent.

“We will not dictate to them. We’ll let them decide what they need and award funds based on their proposals,” he said. “We will just monitor them and watch their progress.”

He said the program had been in operation for two years. In 2008, 50 villages participated, with each receiving Rp 50 million. In 2009, the number of villages receiving the funds rose to 100.

“In Yogyakarta and Bantul, many villages have been developed into tourism villages and it has also helped villagers to earn bigger incomes,” he said.

“It means that we are empowering them. This is an effective way to boost tourism.”

The National Program for Community Empowerment is a government program to curb poverty in the country.

Based on the United Nations Development Program, about 37 million Indonesians live below the poverty line.