maspulung’s sanctuary

Abstract submitted to the International Conference 2008 Cultural, and Event Tourism: Issues and Debates November 5-9, 2008 in Alanya and Cappadocia, Turkey

Few studies in tourism have examined the process by which locals can engage in managing culture as a component of planning for tourism. Many studies showed that tensions may arise across a series of interactions between visitors and local community. From the locals’ perspective, the manipulation of their culture may effect their perception of tourism in their community. Thus, identifying cultural themes that the host community desire to share with visitors is crucial to preserve the local culture and promoting culturally responsible tourism. This study employed reflexive photography to gain information about cultural themes that residents want to share with visitors as a component of planning tourism. The use of photographs was grounded in the interactive context in which photographs acquired would reflect residents’ perception toward their daily life. The study was conducted in the village of Sambi, Indonesia, in June-July, 2007. Twenty-eight residents were issued single use cameras and were asked to take pictures of things, places, people, or anything else that deemed important to them in their village. The photographs were developed and interviews were conducted to elicit information about the pictures they took. Data analysis used both photographs and quotes from photo-elicitation interviews. The study used an inductive thematic approach to analyze the data. The study found six major themes that participants desired to share with visitors. Those themes were rural way of life, environmental features, built structures, people, art and festivals, and animals. The study recommended that the development of tourism in the village of Sambi should be based on the identified themes as well as the operationalization of those themes. The implication is that designing routes to connect themes is an appropriate application of such a method of research. The method showed that photographs can facilitate to bridge the cultural distance between local communities and the tourism planners which often became an issue in tourism planning. Finally, the method also resulted in greater interest of the residents to participate in the study, which is parallel with the notion of the Community-Based Tourism initiative whereby local residents become active agents of tourism development.

~ by maspulung on March 30, 2008.