Trend of Ticket Fare Adjustment for Tourist Destinations
The price adjustment of entry tickets is part of the organizing or managing policy over visit intake necessary to maintain well-conserved natural-tourist destinations.
The government has decided to increase the entry fare to the Komodo National Park, while a similar plan for the Borobudur Temple has been put on hold.
The policies are part of respective tourist-destination authorities’ commitment to fulfilling tourism travelers and conservationists’ expectations for the sustainability of natural and cultural tourism.
Starting this August, the provincial government of East Nusa Tenggara and the Komodo National Park (KNP) management office will charge an entry fee of Rp 3.75 million (US$150) per person for a period of one year for a visit to the natural-conservation area. The decision has been taken in accordance with a study by experts.
Carolina Noge, coordinator of the KNP function-strengthening program, says that the entry tickets will be offered in a package with the minimum price being Rp 15 million for four people per year. The number of visitors to the park will be limited to 292,000 people per year.
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The increased cost of entry fare is based on the calculation that park conservation needs between Rp 2,900,000 and Rp 5,887,000, which is a cost conversion from the loss of ecosystem-service value due to the surge in the number of visits to the park. Every visitor is believed to have a diminishing effect on the conservation of animals, biodiversity and the entire ecosystem inside the area. (Kompas.com, 27/6/2022).
Increasing fare, limiting visitors
The price adjustment of entry tickets is part of the organizing or managing policy over visit intake necessary to maintain well-conserved natural-tourist destinations.
Setting high ticket prices is an implementation of the concept of demarketing, which is posited as a potential tool to degrow tourism and improve its overall sustainability, particularly as a result of so-called over-tourism. (Michael Hall & Kimberly Wood, 2021). Over-tourism occurs when tourist demand exceeds the level of tourism-business capacity.
Tourism is a bonus from the preserved nature that is maintained through conservation. Conservationist Robert Abernethy (2001) states the carrying capacity is defined as an ecological concept that points to the relationship between population and nature on which it depends for survival.
The policy of increasing the admission prices to the Komodo National Park is believed to be the right and standard regulation to control the visit intake with consideration given to the carrying capacity. If it exceeds the natural carrying capacity and the social and environmental acceptance, intake control must be imposed, even if it costs economic benefits.
The Komodo natural heritage site has previously targeted a maximum of a daily intake of 600 visitors or 219,000 visitors a year.
Following its designation, a hotel-group company has opened a hotel in the Labuan Bajo area, which is currently one of the development centers in the National Tourism Strategic Area (KSPN) program.
A sharp increase in the number of foreign-tourist arrivals occurred in the first few years since it was designated by UNESCO as one of world’s seven wonders. Following its designation, a hotel-group company has opened a hotel in the Labuan Bajo area, which is currently one of the development centers in the National Tourism Strategic Area (KSPN) program.
Threats on sustainability
Overcrowding visits are an increasing threat to the sustainability of the tourist destination. Coupled with the lack of visitors’ awareness and knowledge of environmental preservation, they are feared to threaten natural-tourist destinations, as already experienced in Bali.
In 2021, Bali still perched at the top of the Traveler’s Choice Award ranking released by Trip Advisor. This year, it is not among the top-ten destination choices for world tourists, being edged out by London. The British capital city has regained the top position it took in 2020.
Waste disposal is one of the issues that must be addressed, starting with nurturing the habit of throwing trash in the proper receptacle and discouraging people from dumping trash in rivers flowing to the sea. Bali has 390 rivers that empty into the sea with garbage reportedly amounting to as much as 33,000 tons in 2019 (based on the Bali Partnership survey). People should also be warned against littering the streets of the “Island of the Gods”. What is of most concern about reckless disposal is the plastic waste, which does not decompose. It is urgent that environmental-awareness programs must be promoted at the government level in collaboration with various stakeholders, considering the threat of waste mismanagement to the sustainability of tourist destinations.
According to a 2018 report by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, the amount of marine debris caused by waste dumping in 18 locations throughout Indonesia was between 0.27 million tons to 0.59 million tons per year.
Toba with 85 tons per day, Labuan Bajo with 18 tons per day, Mandalika at 216 tons per day and Likupang with 112 tons per day. In Bali, Denpasar and Badung they report a combined 1,287 tons of waste per day.
At the five highest-priority tourist destinations, waste disposal has become a heavy burden (Coordinating Maritime and Investment Ministry, 2022). They are Borobudur Temple with 680 tons per day, Toba with 85 tons per day, Labuan Bajo with 18 tons per day, Mandalika at 216 tons per day and Likupang with 112 tons per day. In Bali, Denpasar and Badung they report a combined 1,287 tons of waste per day.
In Denpasar, the construction of three integrated-waste management sites (TPST) is going on, located at Biaung-Kesiman Kertalangu, Padangsambian Kaja and Tahura (ex-Suwung waste-dumping site).
Responsible tourism
The relevance and urgency of conservation for tourism in the country parallels global-tourism trends and issues, in which the principle of responsible tourism is implemented in the face of the rediscovered rigors of traveling. Those on tour of an area or country must behave as responsible tourists.
In the context of Indonesia, the blessings the nation has been gifted through the conversion of conserved nature into exotic, unique and globally second-to-none national parks, needs to be preserved by implementing the principle of responsible tourism for the sake of sustainable conservation.
Only with an open mind and a broad horizon of thought can people across the world enjoy the fruits of this complex yet great conservation activity.
Natural tourism requires funding, effort and commitment to maintenance to preserve the landscape authenticity so that it gives a feeling of bliss as far as the eye can reach. Clean air, serenity and the sounds of nature make interaction through the five senses able to bring about a quiet inner peacefulness. We become poised consciously to allow ourselves to come into contact with all the elements of nature.
Managing ecotourism, which is the essence of the conservation bonus at the Komodo National Park, requires perseverance and loyalty to maintain and develop the abiotic, biotic and cultural elements, including the endemic komodo dragons, which are unique in the world, and which must be guarded from extinction. Only with an open mind and a broad horizon of thought can people across the world enjoy the fruits of this complex yet great conservation activity.
Learning from the experience of the delayed increase in ticket prices to Borobudur Temple, the park management needs to conduct proper communication with the public regarding the strategic policies and the objectives behind the decision to increase the entry fare to the park area. It is time to arouse empathy from local residents and visitors about the real and serious threat to the sustainability of the park’s creatures and ecosystem that requires their positive participation.
Through empathic communication, the park management’s policy on entry fare will serve as a means to ignite support for the conservation movement that will save the ecosystem and sustain the park as a tourist site.
Dewa Gde Satrya, Lecturer of Hotel & Tourism Business, School of Tourism, Ciputra University, Surabaya, East Java
(This article was translated by Musthofid)