Involvement in 'sex tourism'
A major impact is made on women and children through their involvement in 'sex tourism'. Prostitution has been linked with travel and tourism for many hundreds of years, and today, more than ever, huge numbers of women and children in poorer countries have become victims of this 'industry'. The relationship that exists between tourists and prostitutes is an unequal one: the (mainly) women and children who become prostitutes often do so because of their poor economic circumstances and the attraction of making larger amounts of money relatively quickly. They are sometimes forced into prostitution by their close families, relatives or friends; at other times they choose to engage in it without these people's knowledge so that they can contribute to the family's survival. These women and children are extremely poor and powerless and are easily exploited by the tourists. Because they are relatively very wealthy, the tourists have extreme power and advantage.
62
THE IMPACT OF TOURISM
Thailand and the Philippines are 'sex tour' destinations within the region in which Australian tourists travel. They are also the destinations of large numbers of European and Asian men on 'sex tours'. Many of the local people who are exploited are child prostitutes who in many cases support their poor families. It is estimated that 60 per cent of the tourists who visit Thailand participate in 'sex tourism' and that, in that country alone, 800,000 children engage in prostitution. In the Philippines, it is estimated that 20,000 children engage in it. Sri Lanka, another poor country, also has a serious child-prostitution problem.
One of the social impacts of this form of tourism is the rapid spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV-AIDS throughout both the host country and the tourist's country of origin. Authorities continually warn people travelling to these destinations of the consequences of unsafe sexual practices.
Dependence on foreign investment
Economic considerations are an important part of a culture, and tourism's impact in relation to the economy has several characteristics. Many countries' economies have become dependent on the high level of capital investment that flows into them via the tourist industry. Although some countries openly welcome this investment because it is considered to bring wealth, security, employment and development opportunities, these benefits accrue at a cost: lack of independence in economic matters.
As tourism becomes Australia's number-one growth industry, we are becoming very dependent on foreign investment from Japan and other Asian countries as well as from our traditional European and American sources. This form of investment has grown tremendously in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Although in Australia's case this dependence on tourism investment may not be as serious as in other cases, because other broad economic sectors exist, the economic viability of countries such as Vanuatu and Fiji depends heavily on it. Fluctuations in a country's economy can depend very much on changes in the tourism sector. In 1990 in Vanuatu, for example, an influx of tourists restored the economy to higher levels, whereas in 1988 in Fiji, civil strife brought about a severe downturn in the economy as tourists stayed away from the country. During the early 1990s, Australia's recession impacted on not only our own tourist economy but on that of Fiji, because the number of Australians travelling to Fiji fell substantially.
Activity 1
a State the tourism impacts highlighted in the preceding sections.
b i Classify each impact into the broad categories of 'Biophysical' and 'Cultural'. ii Subdivide the 'Cultural' category into subgroups.
c For each impact categorised into groups and subgroups in part b, state the place/s in which the text mentions they occur.
d Who is affected by each of the tourism impacts?
e How and why have the impacts arisen?
f What alternatives may be available to the people or countries mentioned in the text?
g What are your opinions on the impacts?
Tourism in Asia
The scene depicted in the passage in Figure 3-1 entitled 'Congregating at the coast' can be witnessed during the tourist season at coastal holiday destinations or resorts in most Asian countries.
As they eat their evening meal, visitors from all parts of the globe compare experiences enjoyed on their coastal holidays. The menu they choose from probably includes local fish delicacies. The visitors admire the shells, coral necklaces and other curios from the coast and sea that they have bought. Stories of 'good' prices and bargaining techniques used with the local shopkeepers and traders continue into the night. Many visitors had ventured offshore in order to undertake a scuba-diving tour, and they proudly display cuts and abrasions that testify to their inexpert and unthoughtful encounter with sharp-edged coral.
Figure
63
Figure 3.1 Passage
TOURISM
What are the issues?
Over the past couple of decades, the boom in sun-surf-and-fun tourism in Asian countries has been enormous. The developing 'countries of this huge region have marketed strongly their sandy beaches, coral reefs, balmy temperatures and swaying palm trees to huge numbers of sun-seeking vacationers from the more affluent industrialised countries. The growth has been due in part to Asian airline companies' vigorous promotion of cheaper airfares and coastal holiday packages. It has also been due to changing interest in leisure pursuits among the well-off visitors from both the developed nations and other Asian countries, even though, on an international scale, some of the latter countries are poor. Activities such as snorkelling, sport fishing, windsurfing, whale watching, sailing and scuba diving have become very popular as well as the ever popular activities such as swimming and surfing.
The economic return provided by the boom in coastal tourism is enormous; some countries receive more than 50 per cent of their Gross National Product (GNP) from this type of tourism. Every year the Maldives, the small island nation of the Indian Ocean south of Sri Lanka and India, attracts more than 160,000 visitors, even though its own total population is about 228,000. In 1972 the small country had only two resorts; twenty years later it had more than sixty. Thailand, the population of which was estimated at 57.5 million in 1992, lists tourism as its leading foreign-exchange earner. (Foreign exchange is an export, because tourists bring money into the country and spend it there.) In 1987, tourism became Thailand's largest export, ahead of the traditional number-one export: textiles, and in the late 1980s, six million tourists spent more than $2 billion each year in the country.
Activity 2
Read the journal articles in Figure 3-2 entitled 'Tourism time-bomb' and Figure 3-3 entitled 'Caddies and coral' and answer questions a to c as follows.
Questions
a For each article, list separately all the potential tourism impacts it mentioned.
b i Classify the impacts as either 'Environment-people' or 'People-people'.
ii State the parties involved in each issue mentioned.
c i Choose one impact that interests you.
ii Plan an inquiry using the issues questions listed on page 22 of Chapter 1.
Tourism time-bomb
By Nick Hanna and Sue Wells
But there is a price to be paid for this tourism explosion - and it is a price which is not reflected in the cost of package holidays. The tourist industry invariably markets tropical beach holidays with images of paradise and unspoiled nature. But the fact is that much of the frenzied development to attract the tourist dollar is both uncontrolled and badly planned.
In the last two decades the explosive growth in the construction of beach hotels, resorts, marinas, golf courses, roads, shopping malls and airports has destroyed coastal habitats and threatened some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. The coastal areas most under threat from tourism are in the tropics, where habitats such as coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses are deteriorating rapidly under an avalanche of pink-fleshed sun-seekers.
Coral reefs, sandy beaches and scenic coastlines are what the tourist comes to see and developers are astute enough to try and maintain these. Other habitats are a liability and are the first to go. Mangrove swamps are dredged to make way for ports and marinas, destroying nursery grounds for many commercial fish species and increasing soil run-off and siltation. Seagrass beds are dredged for sand to be used in construction. The vulnerability of coral reefs to pollution and siltation is often overlooked: badly built coastal roads erode in the rain and wash into the sea. Hotels pump untreated sewage into the sea and boats and cruise ships dump it directly overboard. Where building materials are in short supply, as on small islands, corals are used for construction - a minor problem when local housing was the only demand, but a serious concern in the case of large resorts.
Even sandy beaches are not immune. Hotels are built close to the shoreline to provide visitors with a view of the sea and easy access to the beach. But this alters natural sand movement, frequently caus: ing erosion. Similar problems arise following the construction of jetties, harbours and artificial islands which interrupt natural currents and water circulation.
Coral reefs are particularly vulnerable; although an individual diver or snorkeller may have minimum impact compared to other forms of reef damage, the cumulative effect of divers on a reef can be , considerable.
Dive guides all over the world can point to once-pristine, flourishing dive sites where broken
64
THE IMPACT OF TOURISM
and silted corals mock the former richness of the reef. Divers can easily damage coral by standing on it, bumping into it, or holding on to it as they steady themselves in a current or look at marine life. Even though some countries have introduced information and educational sessions which are conducted by tour operators as part of pre-diving instructions for participants, such attempts to save the coral are very limited. [The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has educational films and printed handouts, which are available to diving-tour operators in Australia.] Every day of the year, hundreds of boats, yachts and glass-bottom boats send their anchors crashing down on to reefs. The lack of docking facilities for cruise ships in many countries means that they often anchor directly on reefs.
Tourism has also fuelled demand for products from the reef, both food and curios. Species that were once staples for coastal people are now luxury foods commanding high prices in restaurants and hptels. [Undersize whole coral trout from the Great Barrier Reef brings premium prices in Asian restaurants.] Corals, shells, dried puffer fish and other curios are sold in souvenir shops and beach stalls. Marine bric-a-brac decorates tourist hotel rooms and restaurants. Arid there is even a growing market for corals and shell curios in Europe and North America.
A great deal of damage to coastlines and the marine environment has resulted from huge resort developments, e.g. [in] Malaysia. Environmental impact studies are rare - and when they are done they're usually carried out by foreign companies.
Nevertheless, huge tourist complexes have some advantages. Large numbers of people are concentrated in a relatively small area, so their activities can be self-contained, limiting the spread of both environmental and cultural disturbances. Many people attracted by such resorts are more interested in sunbathing, shopping and the hotel disco than in experiencing marine life at close quarters. If these resorts can be persuaded to contribute financially to the management of the surrounding natural environment, and if the local community is benefiting through more jobs, even large-scale developments may be of value.
Unfortunately, far too few large-resort operators are prepared to make the necessary investments. Some, like hotel owners in Bora-Bora [in the Society Islands near Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean], are establishing marine reserves on adjacent reefs while others are helping distribute educational materials about reefs to their customers. But there needs to be a much deeper commitment - along with gov-
ernment pressure on the industry to act responsibly. Tourism has to be seen as part of national or regional resource-management plans - too often it is seen as just another kind of 'development' with a blind emphasis on growth.
On small undeveloped islands, low-key community-based tourism is relatively easy to introduce. On Pohnpei in Micronesia [a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean], one village has set up a 'marine-park corporation' to promote tourism and has built canoes to take tourists out on day trips to the mangroves and reefs. In the Philippines, where a number of village-run fishery reserves have been set up on small islands, divers and other tourists are encouraged to visit in small numbers. The villagers provide accommodation and raise money through the sale of food, souvenirs and diving fees to help finance the reserve.
Figure 3.2 Journal article (The New Internationalist, August 1992)
Caddies and coral
NORA SYED-IBRAHIM, a research officer with Third World Network in Penang, reports from Malaysia on tourism run amok.
Redang Island is part of an archipelago of nine islands off the east coast of peninsular Malaysia [see the map in Figure 3.4 on page 67]. In 1985, the Malaysian Government recognised the region's rich marine resources, especially its coral reefs, and declared it a protected area. The goal eventually was to make a marine park. There was one hitch, though: land is a state matter. The local government was more interested in avast new tourist development - a US$130 million tourist resort.
The first phase of the project, now nearly complete, includes an 18-hole golf course (carpeted by importedAustraliangrass), a 100-room five-star hotel, 45 deluxe holiday villas and a sports complex. Subsequent stages call for 100 condominiums, two 250-rOom hotelsj 12 holiday villas, 80 holiday bungalows, eight presidential chalets and another sports complex. All this is to fit on an island which is just six kilometres wide and seven kilometres long.
Construction began in early 1991. Hills were terraced and mangrove swamps cleared for the golf course. Both the project's developers and govern-
Figure 3.3 continues.
TOURISM
Figure 3.3 (continued)
ment officials assured critics that damage to the environment would be minimal. The Executive Chair of the Redang Island Resort Company claimed that Australian consultants had guaranteed the project's safety. 'If they had said differently, we would have gone elsewhere,' he said.
In October, a group of journalists toured the island and were shown plastic sheets and coconut-husk mats used to stop erosion of the gored hillsides - as well as sump ponds and large rocks supposedly to trap sediments.
Suspicions that the measures were inadequate were confirmed in a World Wildlife Fund - Malaysia (WWF) report released in April 1992. The report found that the flimsy plastic sheets were swept away by the force of monsoon rains while silt passed through the rocks, flooded the mangroves and poured into the sea - covering the coral with a fine layer of sediment. The WWF noted that sedimentation rates in the Redang River estuary had increased by nearly 300 per cent. The agency charged that siltation in the waters around the island would cause irreversible damage to the coral reef and other marine ecosystems.
Meanwhile the 1000 people who live in Kuala Redang, a small fishing village near the Redang River estuary, have lost their initial enthusiasm for the tourist mega-project. The whole village is to be relocated three kilometres inland so that new hotels can be built near the golf course. The developer claims that the project will improve the fisherfolk's standard of living by providing a clutch of new jobs - as low-paid gardeners, waiters and caddies.
Villager Deraman Ali is less than grateful for these 'opportunities'. 'Think of the damage it will do to the fishes and marine life,' he says. 'We depend on fishing for our livelihood. We were never consulted and our opinion was never sought.'
Figure 3.3 Journal article (The New Internationalist, August 1992)
Tourism on Lombok Island9
Indonesia
What is at this place, and why is it there?
Nowadays, be they package groups, backpackers or independents, many tourists who travel to Indonesia's islands move beyond the popular tourist destination
of Bali. Islands such as Lombok and Sumbawa are now also being visited and promoted as tourist destinations. Because Sumbawa is further from Bali, it (at present) receives less tourists than Lombok, which is the largest island immediately to the east of Bali - see the map in Figure 3.4 on page 67.
The economy
Lombok's economy is heavily based on agriculture, particularly the growing of rice, and on plantation crops such as coconuts, coffee, kapok, tobacco and cotton as well as other crops such as cloves, vanilla, pepper, soya, pineapples and sweet potatoes. The climate is drier than that of Bali, and in some years the rice crop fails - with extreme consequences. In 1966, for example, many thousands of people died during a famine, and in 1973 a similar crop failure occurred. The Lombok coastline is edged with many coral reefs that are the basis of an important coastal village fishing industry.
Tourism is increasingly making a significant contribution to the island's economy and is being promoted by both the national and regional - West Nusa Tenggara - governments. Some of the most interesting aspects of the local culture that are being promoted involve the population of more than two million people. About 80 per cent of the people are Sasaks, who probably originated a considerable distance west of Lombok, in India or Burma. The remaining 20 per cent consists of minority groups of mainly Balinese people, as well as Chinese, Javanese and Arabic people.
Lombok's traditional weaving is well known and sought after by tourists, partly because the fabric is often handwoven, in four directions, and, in many cases, takes months to be completed. Plaited baskets, mats, fashion bags and shopping bags are also unique items. The island's many dances and their accompanying music are brilliant and are performed nowhere else in Indonesia. Traditional Sasak architecture is governed by laws and practices that relate to the time and way in which the structures were originally built. In the villages, each main building has a different design - the bale tani (family house), the lumbung (rice barn) and the beruga (meeting hall). The lumbung has a characteristic horseshoe shape and is increasingly being used as Lombok's architectural symbol.
Developing upmarket tourist facilities
Lombok has begun to develop its tourism industry over the past ten years. Much of the development has been prompted by the influence and economic success of tourism in Bali, the nearest neighbouring
66
THE IMPACT OF TOURISM
island. The government's attention is being directed towards attracting wealthier tourists and building five-star hotels and resort complexes. Policies connected to this emphasis relate to road improvements in tourist areas, port improvements where ferry connections are made, and airport upgradings.
The policies also involve discouragement of the building of smaller establishments that would cater for moderate-budget travellers as well as discouragement of the provision of opportunities for local small-business people and entrepreneurs. The government is making it increasingly difficult for this type of tourist facility to be established on the island's many beautiful and undeveloped beaches. In the south, for example where the coast is sparsely populated, the
government has acquired tracts of beachfront in order to undertake joint development of expensive hotels and resorts. These partnerships are formed with companies who can bring in capital, either from overseas or from other parts of Indonesia, such as Bali and Java. In this and other areas, people who own existing moderate-budget tourist facilities may be compelled to sell up and move out.
Where are the tourist activities mostly located?
Lombok's promotion as a tourist destination took a significant new direction when the Senggigi Beach Hotel at Senggigi was completed - see the map in
67
TOURISM
Figure 3.5 The hotel is only one of many 'five star' hotels and resorts developed by the Aerowisata company, connected with the national airline Garuda, which advertises itself as Indonesia's premier and pioneer hotel chain. Other hotels in the group are the Hotel Sanur Beach, Bali; the Nusa Dua Hotel, Bali; the Kartika Plaza Beach Hotel, Bali; the Grand Hotel Preanger, Bandung, West Java; the Hotel Pusako, Bukittinggi, West Sumatra; the Biak Beach Hotel, Biak, north-west coast of Irian Jaya; the Hotel Bumi Minang, Padang, West Sumatra, and the Biliton Beach Hotel, Belitung, South Sumatra.
The Senggigi area of west Lombok
Immediately north of Mataram, Lombok's administrative capital - see Figure 3-5 - is the most concentrated group of tourist facilities in the whole of Lombok. Located on a series of sweeping bays between prominent headlands, the Senggigi area has a full range of accommodation, from low price, at 10,000 rupiah ($A8) per night for a room, to high price, at 1,500,000 rupiah ($A1150) per night for a suite.
Lombok's government recently facilitated the building of two five-star hotels in the area, apart from the Senggigi Beach Hotel, and two other luxury hotels are already operating.
Many tourists who travel to Lombok see no other part of the island; they even bypass Mataram and the nearby major population centres of Ampenan, Cakranegara and Sweta - see Figure 3.5. At the time of writing, the locality's range of accommodation, eating and shopping facilities attracts all types of tourist. It has been suggested, however, that in the future the government would like to promote the area as a 'quality tourist' destination - see the maps in figures 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8 on pages 69 and 70.
Some tourists use the Senggigi area as an arrival base before travelling to other pans of the island, such as the surfing-windsurfing area of Kuta in the south, the Gunung Rinjani volcano in the east, and the Gili Islands in the north - see Figure 3.5. Senggigi's grey-sand beaches are usually wide and slope steeply into the water. Off the beaches are reefs that provide tourists with excellent opportunities for snorkelling and diving, and the bays between the points and
Figure 3.5 Lombok, Indonesia: the mainland and islands
THE IMPACT OF TOURISM
Figure 3.6
Senggigi Beach, west mainland Lombok: tourist facilities an
sites
discourages
them from coming too close to the hotel grounds. The security
message given to hotel guests is shown in notice f
in
Figure 3.21 on page 73.
The point itself is a spit of coral sand that would normally grow and shrink due to natural coastal processes. Now that so much money has been invested in tourism there, it has to be protected by large stone and concrete barriers -see Figure 3.11.
The Aerowisata company that manages the Senggigi Beach Hotel builds its own concrete forms and collects stone in order to build beachfront protection. Local people are employed as labourers to assemble, transport and locate the barriers, which are prepared in a work area in one corner of the hotel complex, out of the tourists' sight - see Figure 3.12.
The
hotel is a resort and provides tourists with a range of recreational
goods and services. Its distinctive beach towels are included in the
tariff and can be borrowed and signed for. Other equipment,
including mountain bikes, has to be hired for an hourly fee. In the
photograph in Figure 3-13, note that the building from which
tourists collect and
headlands are good sailing and boating localities.
The following paragraphs accompanying figures 3-9 to 3-20 on
pages 71 and 72 provide additional information about the Senggigi
area's character and associated issues.
Tourists from around the world enjoy sunset
over Bali's Gunung Agung volcano and across Lombok Strait - see
Figure 3.9. This is the advertising image that has attracted the
tourists from as far afield as Germany, Holland, Italy,
Scandinavia, the United States and Australia. The
bar-and-umbrella area photographed for Figure 3.9 is provided
by the Senggigi Beach Hotel and is located right on the beach; the
hotel's layout is shown in Figure 3.8 on page 70. Details of the
hotel's tariffs are provided in notice a
in Figure 3.21 on page 73.
Although tourists are free to wander all over the point on
which the hotel is located - see Figure 3-10 - local people,
particularly traders, are kept out by the hotel fence, and a
security guard
69
TOURISM
hire is in a pseudo-traditional Lombok style - a reminder to tourists that they are in an exotic place. Details of recreation and sport costs are provided in notice c in Figure 3.21 on page 73.
Tourists are able to use the resort's facilities and grounds and all the surrounding beaches. Local fisherfolk continue their traditional beach fishing even
though tourists may be swimming, snorkelling and sailing near the fishing lines - see Figure 3.14. This type of recreation can interfere with the locals' livelihood. Details of the resort's facilities are provided in notices b, d, e and g in Figure 3.21 on page 73. The area's tourist industry employs local people, many of whom travel a considerable distance by
70
THE IMPACT OF TOURISM
Figure 3.9 Sunset over the Gunung Agung volcano, Bali
Figure 3.10 Tourists wandering freely on Senggigi Beach
Figure 3.11 Beach protection at Senggigi Beach
motorcycle or local mini-bus (bemo). Some come from as far away as Ampenam and Mataram or from mountain villages behind the coastal resort. In the photograph in Figure 3.15, note the worker's traditional style cart and clothing - it is meant to satisfy tourists' desire to holiday in an exotic place; the worker would otherwise wear jeans and a T-shirt.
Local traders set up their stalls on the beach, as close to the resort as they are allowed to be - see
Figure 3.12 The building site for the beach-protection material
Figure 3.13 Recreation facilities at the Senggigi Beach Hotel
Figure 3.14 Tourists and a local fisher at Senggigi Beach
Figure 3.16. The traders provide many of the services that tourists seek, such as boat and motorcycle hire. Some stallholders sell local craft items and clothing. Fruit sellers, mainly women and children, walk the beach from dawn to dusk - see notice g in Figure 3.21 on page 73.
One popular service is provided by private boat owners who contract to take tourists to offshore islands or reefs for snorkelling, scuba diving and coral viewing - see Figure 3.17.
71
T O U R I S M
Figure 3.18 The local laundry service for tourists in the Senggigi area
Figure 3.16
Local traders at Senggigi Beach
One business that services the hotels, bungalows and resorts concentrated in the Senggigi area is the local laundry - see Figure 3.18.
The main road that passes through Senggigi Beach is a coastal one, and most of the various types of accommodation are located along it. It is therefore an ideal location for the array of small-scale industries that support the region's tourism, for example car rental, photographic processing, food supplies and sale of local clothing and crafts - see Figure 3.19.
Figure 3.19 Tourist facilities along the Senggigi area's main road
Figure 3.20
Beach
72
^*ebal .co-operation-
f-r vour co-"*1 ^^^ TnankyouforV —
S
Figure
3.21 Notices issued by the
Senggigi Beach Hotel to its guests: a tariffs; b telephone numbers
and safe deposit box; c recreation and sport facilities; d dining
and recreation facilities; e
free sport facilities; f
security; g beach
cleanliness
73
TOURISM
As much travelled tourists become disenchanted with or less excited about the neighbouring island of Bali, tourism in west Lombok's Senggigi area is expanding rapidly. Quiet coastal areas and sleepy villages such as this are undergoing a transformation as new hotels and resorts are being built or planned - see Figure 3.20 on page 72. Many other services that feed off these developments are also appearing.
Activity 3
a What tourism issues are revealed through our examining the list of points and their accompanying photographs in figures 3-9 to 3.20 on pages 71 and 72?
b "Where are the Senggigi Beach Hotel's activities concentrated?
c i What has changed in the biophysical environment since tourist developments have appeared at Senggigi Beach? ii What changes have occurred in the Senggigi Beach Hotel area?
d Who is affected by the changes that tourism has brought about?
e Do any conflicts of interest exist between the tourism operators and the local people?
f Are any of the issues resolved to the satisfaction of the tourism operators, the tourists and the local people?
g State your opinion on the changes that have occurred as a result of tourism.
h State whether any alternative decisions could be made that might bring the local people more benefits.
The Gili Islands - a meeting of tourist cultures
Who are the people or groups involved in the issues?
sunshine, white-sand beaches and clear water for snorkelling and viewing beautifully coloured fish and coral. Local fisherfolk have a role to play in taking the tourists to the reefs for the recreational activities. The tourists travel to Gili Air and the two neighbouring islands of Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan - see Figure 3.5 on page 68. All three islands are very flat and have few facilities.
The increase in tourism entails an environmental as well as a cultural cost. The tourists are bringing increasing amounts of food and other commodities from Lombok, and much of it unfortunately generates as waste, in solid containers scattered all over the islands. Collection or recycling facilities as we know them do not exist.
Most of the island's shops and places of accommodation have their own electricity generators, and a bare minimum of supplies is transported to the islands by small boat. Gili Air has one major unsurfaced road around it as well as tracks that crisscross it, linking meeting places such as the mosque - see the map in Figure 3.23 on page 75. The main form of transport available to tourists is the cidomo, the small horse-drawn cart that is common throughout rural Lombok - see the photograph in Figure 3.24 on page 75. There are no cars on the islands.
Gili Air's local people provide tourist services such as transport, food and accommodation. Accommodation is usually in the form of plain bungalows that are on stilts and have a small verandah or balcony at the front. Mandi (washing) and toilet facilities are usually shared. The bungalows' prices are usually about $A10 per night, which includes simple meals. More expensive accommodation is available for more selective tourists. Living on the islands is very cheap for tourists, and the lifestyle is attractive because of its uniqueness. These factors result in the different cultures' being brought into contact with each other, and negotiation (bargaining) about products' prices is commonplace. The following two incidents are related in order to illustrate contact that typifies cultural difference.
Gili
Air is a small coral-fringed island off Lombok's north-west coast -
see the map in Figure 3.5 on page 68. At its widest point its width
is less than 2 kilometres, and it is possible to walk around
its perimeter in a couple of hours at a leisurely pace. The island's
edge is dotted with more than twenty losmens
(bungalows of varying standard), which
are available for tourists - see the photograph in Figure 3.22.
The island has become increasingly popular with tourists, mainly backpackers, from Europe, North America and Australia. These tourists are seeking
Figure 3.22 A losmen, Gili Air, west Lombok
74
THE IMPACT OF TOURISM
Figure 3.23 Gili Air