Progress of Tourism Development in East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia: A Path to Realize the Sustainable Economic Sector
Abstract
The tourism sector in East Kalimantan Province is expected to contribute to the region’s economy over the domination of the mining industry. On the other hand, the main issue is that the province’s economy still relies much upon the mining-based sector, particularly coal. As green growth-based and sustainable development strategies have been embraced globally for future development, developing a tourism-based economy is associated with this implementation due to tropical and mangrove forest area resources owned by the province. This path, if consistently developed, means not only an improved proportion of non-mining sectors in total local GDP but also significant reductions of carbon emissions responsible for global warming and climate change. Less elaborated studies have discussed the case of tourism development for the case of coal-based at province level. This paper tries to contribute to the gap by descriptively summarizing the current conditions of the tourism destinations and their climate development in the region using SWOT analysis. Our study shows that East Kalimantan Province has a comparative advantage in natural tourism with ecotourism destinations. Mangrove forest attractions, for instance, recorded as many as 18 objects and if these objects are properly conserved, they may contribute to reducing the harmful effects led by greenhouse gases. Other tourist objects with nature backgrounds have also reached 124 in number, and there was one object recognized in the Indonesian Tourism Village Award. An increase in non-domestic tourist visits from 2013 to 2019 was also seen, though the number was less developed compared to national tourists, and it experienced a significant decrease due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Some limitations such as accessibility and amenities, human resource, branding, and marketing of tourist destinations hamper the development of the tourism sector and should be addressed to optimize its competitiveness. Policies that cut these burdens may improve the realization of sustainability in East Kalimantan’s Province economy.
Keywords: tourism, development, tourist destinations, ecotourism, East Kalimantan
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