Managing the Integrated Tourism Area through Local Community

Empowerment: A Qualitative Study in Pantai Matahari Terbit Sanur

Putu Ayu Aryasih

and Ni Made Eka Mahadewi

Travel Business Management, Bali Tourism Institute, Jl. Dharmawangsa Kampial Nusa Dua, Badung Bali, Indonesia

Tourism Destination, Bali Tourism Institute, Jl. Dharmawangsa Kampial Nusa Dua, Badung Bali, Indonesia

Keywords: Managing Integrated Tourism Area, Community-based Tourism.

Abstract: Community empowerment is an attempt to create a community through the realization of their potential.

The concept of community empowerment as a thought could not be separated from the paradigm of

development that is centered on the people. This qualitative study aims to analyze the empowerment of

local community in managing integrated tourism area of Pantai Matahari Terbit Sanur (PMT) through

several components, including some social and environment benefits the local community could get.

1 INTRODUCTION

Community empowerment is a concept of economic

development that encapsulates social values. This

concept reflects the new paradigm of development,

which is: people centered, participatory,

empowering and sustainable. The empowerment of

society in tourism always involves two interrelated

groups. Both groups are the local community as the

empowered and the concerned party as the

empowering party (Kartasasmita, 1997).

According to Sumodiningrat (1996), community

empowerment itself is an attempt to create a

community, through the realization of their

potential. The concept of community empowerment

as a thought could not be separated from the

paradigm of development that is centered on the

people.

In community-based development, there are

three aspects that can be used to empower the

community, namely:

 Empowerment

Empowerment is defined as someone or some

parties that supports others or makes people

aware of their potential and abilities and

motivates them to be self-reliant and willing to

try according to their abilities. According to the

description, people have a significant role in

realizing sustainable tourism. Community

empowerment in tourism activities will be able

to improve people's welfare.

 Partnership

Partnership is understood as how several parties

that play a role in a community are integrated

where each has different roles and strengths.

Those are directed to support each other in order

to develop, so with the formation of a

partnership, it is expected to generate profits for

all parties involved in the partnership.

Empowerment process can be done individually

or collectively (group). But since this process is a

form of social change involving relationships or

relationships between social layers characterized

by economic polarization, the ability of the

individual to share in one group tends to be

judged as the most effective form of

empowerment (Friedmann, in Prijono and

Pranarka, 1996).

 Participation

So far, the involvement of the people has been

seen in a narrow context only, which means that

human beings are seen as rough enough to

reduce the cost of social development. The

community is expected to participate actively

rather than passively (in Prijono and Pranarka,

1996) as follows:

".....participation refers to an active process

whereby the beneficiaries influence the direction

and execution of development projects rather

than merely receive a share of project benefits".

The definition sees the involvement of the

community from the decision-making stage, the

Aryasih, P. and Mahadewi, N.

Managing the Integrated Tourism Area through Local Community Empowerment: A Qualitative Study in Pantai Matahari Terbit Sanur.

DOI: 10.5220/0008488000490052

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM Untar 2018), pages 49-52

ISBN: 978-989-758-363-6

enjoyment of results and evaluation (Cohen and

Uphoff in Prijono and Pranarka, 1996).

According to Murphy in Madiun (2010), the

participation or involvement of local

communities in the planning and development of

tourism can contribute in terms of vision related

to the heritage and culture of the community in

the development of tourism products, so that the

differentiation of destinations can be done.

Nature and culture are tourism capitals that must be

preserved, protected, and be able to maintain balance

in utilization, with the obligation to preserve nature

and culture to avoid damage. This encourages the

concept of the importance of tourism activities and

environmentally friendly tourism management, by

increasing the participation of local communities in

managing the natural resources and local culture

which are known as community-based tourism.

There are several things that must be considered

in the development of community-based tourism.

Tourism activities should be able to increase the

participation of local communities. Local people

play an active role in tourism development and

management activities, starting from planning,

implementation, organizing, monitoring and

evaluation. This is because the local people have

knowledge about nature and culture that become

tourism potential in their area. Thus, it is expected

that the results of tourism activities can be enjoyed

and received directly by the local communities.

Community-based tourism aims to empower local

communities in tourism development and

management activities.

Denpasar is a city that implements the

development of cultural tourism that is inspired by

Hinduism and based on Tri Hita Karana. Tri Hita

Karana is a concept to keep harmony between

human and God, human with fellow human beings,

and human and the environment. Balinese cultural

activities are a series of dynamic, open, flexible,

selective and adaptive activities towards external

cultural influences (Bagus, 2002: 58). In addition,

the policy of tourism development of Denpasar is to

develop tourist attractions that increase community

development and awareness, as well as the active

role of the community, such as traditional village

through the utilization of technology and

information. Tourism development in Denpasar is

expected to improve people's economy in order to

actualize the populist economy.

2 DISCUSSION

2.1 Community Involvement in

Managing PMT

One of the attractions in Denpasar, which applies to

the community-based tourism principle is the

Integrated Tourism Area of Pantai Matahari Terbit

(PMT). PMT is located in the Indigenous Village of

Sanur (Desa Adat). The location of land or high land

on this beach is ± 5 meters above sea level with a

white sandy beach structure. The average

temperature per year is between 29-30 degrees

Celsius. This beach has a strategic position and good

accessibility because it is easy to reach from Benoa,

Denpasar, and other beaches in Sanur area.

The entire PMT area has been styled to be an

Integrated Tourism Area with Tri Hita Karana

insight. Based on Tri Hita Karana, the area

arrangements also use the concept contained in it.

The arrangements are as follows:

 Parahyangan (place for religious ceremony).

 Pawongan (tourism, sports).

 Palemahan (environmental preservation / small

mangrove forests / other plants).

The area of PMT is divided into three Mandalas,

they are:

 Utama Mandala at the northern part (place for

doing the religious ceremony).

 Madya Mandala (place for Mina Sari Asih

Fisherman's Ward, open field, burning corpse

area / petunon, and meeting venue).

 Nista Mandala Mandala (complex of villas,

bungalows and hotels).

The utilization of PMT has been submitted to

Indigenous Village of Sanur (Desa Adat Sanur)

based on the The Decree of Governor of Bali's First

Level Region Number: 593.5 / 14170 / B.T. Pem.

October 15, 1998. The grant of utilization rights is

mainly for the purposes of the implementation of

religious ceremonies / customs, defenses and other

public interests. Desa Adat is a traditional institution

or organization that has been existed for generations

and is led by a village head. Therefore, the

development of tourism activities in PMT is not

separated from the management conducted by the

local communities (indigenous people) of Sanur,

which is in line with existing traditions.

The existence of a tourism association or

organization that manages and maintains a policy for

the sustainability of tourism businesses and activities

in an integrated tourism area is very important. In

ICEBM Untar 2018 - International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM) Untar

PMT area there are various business activities,

especially service business. For example: parking

service, jukung or boat rental, and stall/kiosk. These

business activities are managed by a business entity,

named Badan Usaha Milik Desa Pekraman Sanur

(BUMDPS), which means the business entity owned

by the local community. This business entity was

formed after the handover of coastal management to

indigenous communities of Sanur based on

Governor's Decree on October 15, 1998. All service

units, parking, taxation fee for religious ceremony

practitioners, boats/jukung, traders/kiosks and street

vendors are all managed and coordinated by

BUMDPS. The local communities also do various

forms of business, such as parking personnel, levy

services, boat transportation personnel to Nusa

Penida and Nusa Lembongan island, and merchants

stalls/kiosk.

In addition to the above organizations, there are

several forms of organizations or associations in

PMT that support the development of tourism, those

are:

 The fishermen have also formed an organization,

the Fisherman Association of Mina Sari Asih

Sanur. They do fishing activities, renting boats

and fishing equipment for tourists, and helping

the Balawista Sanur team in maintaining the

safety of travelers who swim or enjoy the water

sport facilities at PMT.

 The local community also has a youth group

consisting of young villagers named Karang

Taruna Asta Dharma. Their activity is to

mobilize young villagers to make use of their

creativities in various activities such as bazaar

for fund-raising, race events for village

anniversary, learning activities for young

villagers in pesraman (a place to learn about

Hinduism), etc.

 Wahyu Baruna Transport is a transport

organization managed by the local community.

 Hansip is a civil defense organization owned and

managed by the local community. The duty is to

maintain security and anticipate possible

criminality.

Furthermore, as a beautiful beach, PMT is used as a

place to do the Nyekah ritual. Nyekah is a part of

cremation (called Ngaben) held by Hindus in Bali.

All religious activities require boat payment to Nusa

Penida. This beach is one of the locations of Sanur

Village Festival which held by the local community

every year as listed in Bali event calendar. Those

events make this area interesting.

2.2 Community Involvement in Policy

and Training

The government and local community fully support

tourism activities in PMT. The management of PMT

is run by empowering the local community of Sanur

Village.

Efforts made by the government towards

empowerment, conducted by the Department of

Tourism in Denpasar along with academics and

practitioners, provide training and socialization to

local community about tourism, management of

community-based tourist areas. Through the

existence of training and socialization to the

community, it is expected that the knowledge about

tourism will increase, so that the local community

have an awareness that in the end they also can

enjoy the benefits of tourism.

2.3 Socio-cultural Benefit

Managing PMT also provides socio-cultural benefits

to local community. These socio-cultural benefits

include: the linkage and engagement between local

community and the wider society, benefits to

organizational foundations or social institutions, and

benefits to the arts and traditions:

 Linkage and Engagement between Local

Community and Broader Communities.

Managing PMT also enhances the relationship

between local community, tourists and wider

community. The local community is able to

exchange ideas and exchange knowledge with

visitors in PMT. They also communicate and

know the outside world from exchanging

thoughts and information.

 Development of Organizational Fundamental or

Social Institutions.

All organizations owned by the local community

get benefits from managing PMT. These benefits

include information gained from tourism area

management activities and links between

existing organizations.

 Preservation of Traditions and Customs.

Socio-cultural benefits that the local community

also gain in managing PMT is the benefit of

preserving Balinese traditions and customs by

introducing them to PMT visitors.

2.4 Environmental Benefits

The empowerment of local community in managing

PMT also provides positive benefits in the form of

Managing the Integrated Tourism Area through Local Community Empowerment: A Qualitative Study in Pantai Matahari Terbit Sanur

environmental conservation. Managing PMT is an

effort to preserve the environment while maintaining

coastal area.

Awareness of the importance of the environment

is often realized only after the environment is

already damaged by tourism exploitation. However,

the management of PMT and the local community

have agreed to preserve the environment.

3 CONCLUSIONS

The management of PMT is managed by the local

community who get support from the government,

academics and practitioners through training and

socialization in tourism sector.

The socio-cultural benefits of empowering local

community are building relationships between local

community, tourists and the wider community, the

development of organizational foundations or social

institutions, and preservation of traditions and

customs.

In addition, local community empowerment in

managing PMT is also beneficial for the

preservation of the environment.

REFERENCES

Bagus, G.N. 2002. Pemikiran Baru untuk Pembangunan

Bali yang Berkelanjutan dari Perspektif Budaya.

Denpasar: Universitas Udayana.

Kartasasmita, G. 1997. Pemberdayaan Masyarakat,

Konsep Pembangunan yang Berakar Pada Masyarakat.

Online Tourism Journal. http://www.ginandjar.com.

Madiun, I.N. 2010. Nusa Dua Model Pengembangan

Kawasan Wisata Modern. Bali: Udayana University

Press.

Prijono, OS dan Pranarka. 1996. Pemberdayaan Konsep,

Kebijakan dan Implementasi. Jakarta: CSIS.

Sumodiningrat, G. 1996. Pembangunan Daerah dan

Pemberdayaan Masyarakat. Jakarta: PT. Bina Rena

Pariwara.

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