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Managing Growth of Nias Tourism

Published March 26, 2008 Nias for Dummies Leave a Comment

Author : Darman Zebua

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In the book of “The world is flat” (Thomas L. Friedman), influenced by open source and uploading activities make the world become flat and connected. By 2020 it is estimated that three times as many people as now will travel internationally. Where are all the extra tourists expected to go? Capacity at popular places is limited as are potential locations for intensive new development, without ruining the environment that holiday-makers are seeking.

Nias Island at the west of Sumatra is well known for tradition, culture and the trend of identity activities. I am an enthusiast for the benefits that tourism can bring for the niassen . But I am also concerned at the lack of coordinated management – and in many places; there is evidence of what can go wrong when tourism evolves according to demand. The question is: What to do to manage growth of nias tourism?

Three precepts of Nias Tourism

There are three ideas that nias tourism strategy-makers need to bear in mind from the outset:

  • The tourists will come anyway, whether the nias island has a strategy or not. The question is, will they be the kind of tourists that the niassen want, and will the niassen be prepared to receive and manage them to increase the benefits and minimize the problems?
  • Tourists are diverse: the backpacker trekking round the world is not looking for the same thing as the businessman, or the frequent leisure holidaymaker, or a person traveling to another country for medical treatment, or to visit friends and relatives.
  • Nias Tourism Strategy must not only be about selling the nias tourism products – it is about management, about optimizing the social of niassen, economic of niassen  and environmental benefits that tourism can bring to niassen.

From the tree precepts above, the nias tourism strategy-makers need to work extra to earn the multi tourism effects. Generalized aspirations in a national tourism strategy are not enough. Tourism is usually concentrated in certain regions (Nias Island) and even more locally on small, highly popular areas which themselves need specific local plans. If Nias Island is not analyzed, planned, developed and managed, a simple national strategy is useless.

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