Risk & Crisis Management in Tourism Sector:
Recovery from Crisis
in the OIC Member Countries
77
4.1.5. Weaknesses and Threats to Indonesian Tourism
 Tourism overdevelopment in some areas, with large resorts and tourism facilities, has led
to excessive water consumption, pollution from waste water and ill-treatment and loss of
agricultural land. Beach areas and marine fauna and flora may be impacted as well. In Bali
some of the environmental concerns include deterioration of reefs in the island, resulting
from a high number of visitors and higher water temperatures (although this latter point is
related to climate change generally rather than to tourism pressure) (Simpson, 2007).
 Reports of forest fires, illegal logging and encroachment on forested land for plantations of
oil-palms, cocoa, coffee, rubber and other cash crops which lead to endangering flora and
fauna send negative signals overseas about the sustainability of environmental
management in Indonesia.
 In recent years, terrorist attacks against tourists have declined, possibly due to the
intensive security measures that the government is taking in fighting terrorism. However
with time and with the large number of tourists at some attractions, and with the modern
networking and organisation that the extremists are using, there is a fear that future attacks
may happen in some of popular destinations with many Western visitors (De Haan, 2016).
 To meet the future expansion of the tourism sector, and in order to diversify the products,
new destinations have to be developed. Investing in infrastructure in any new destination
is a pre-requisite to attract investors. With most tourists staying in Bali, Jakarta and the
Batam Islands (off the eastern coast of Sumatra), it is evident that more investments in
infrastructure are needed in order to expand into new destinations.
4.1.6. Conclusion
The Indonesian tourism industry went through a period of rapid growth in the 1980s-90s but
from the late 1990s onwards experienced a number of shocks and stresses. The first terrorist
attacks targeting tourists and other Westerners demonstrated that there was insufficient
preparedness amongst the local authorities and stakeholders to manage the crisis, including
poor coordination and lack of planning. As the casualties of the attacks represented many
nationalities, the impact on the tourism sector and on the image of the country was direct and
abrupt (Gurtner, 2016).
In order to restore the sector, successive Indonesian governments have implemented intensive
campaigns to restore the image of the country, including setting up a Crisis Management Team
tasked with diversifying products as well as source markets. These policies have result in steady
growth in tourism to Indonesia over the last decade, reaching 10,407 million visitors in 2015
with foreign exchange earnings of US$ 12,054 and employing 8.4% of the total workforce.
Although tourism in Indonesia is vulnerable to different types of crises, especially natural
disasters, societal-political, and health-related, measures taken by the government to stabilise
contextual factors and work with a range of stakeholders, as well as diversifying markets, has
ensured that the industry is now more resilient.