Abstract
This dissertation is about tourism development in a disaster-prone environment. The occurrence of disasters and the possibility of future disasters present tourism with an acute dilemma: although tourism is promising for economic development, it is a vulnerable sector and thus a risky business. The study area of the present research
... read more
was Indonesia, more specifically Aceh, which was hit by the 2004 tsunami, and Yogyakarta, which was severely damaged by an earthquake in 2006 and by the eruption of Mt Merapi in 2010. Indonesia was chosen because it wants to develop tourism for economic development, but it is threatened by disasters due to its geological location in the ‘Ring of Fire’, namely an area that is prone to tectonic and volcanic phenomena such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. To understand the impacts of disasters, actors’ responses and resilience to disasters, and recent transformations in tourist destinations resulting from disasters, data were gathered between 2014 and 2019 by means of desk and library research, secondary data collection, observations, surveys, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions in Yogyakarta, Bali and Aceh. The present research found several findings and discussions; (1) Disasters have a spill-over effect: when the number of visitors in an affected destination drops, tourist numbers in other regions increase. Thus, responding to disasters requires a structural approach, because managing the impact of disasters on tourism is an effort that involves multiple areas, multiple actors and multiple sectors. (2) The result provides an important insight for disaster management in tourist destinations. It also reveals, however, how heterogeneous tourists’ responses to disasters are and provides a framework, based on cultural theory, that not only avoids labelling responses by tourists as irrational, but instead helps to structure different responses to disasters. This can ultimately contribute to more tailored and effective disaster management. (3) Following a disaster, a tourist destination experiences many changes, which can be studied to understand the transformations that have taken place. (4) It appears likely that supportive social contexts, the availability of innovation that is acceptable to the local community, and the supply and marketing of tourism resources are key enabling factors for tourism transformation and becoming part of the post-disaster recovery strategy, thereby enhancing resilience. This dissertation contributes to a better understanding of tourism development in disaster-prone environments by focusing on the impact of disasters on the performance of the tourism industry in Indonesia, the responses of tourists and communities to disasters, and the transformations that have taken place following recent disasters in Indonesia. Last but not least, this dissertation presents some important points that contribute to the understanding of tourism development in disaster-prone environments, including the need for structural policy responses for disaster management in tourist destinations and the need to integrate resilience indicators in discussions about sustainable tourism development.
show less
