Bio-rock and roll? Dive Tourism and Island Communities: the case of Gili Trawangan, Indonesia

Tourism in Gili Trawangan, located off Lombok, Indonesia, appears to be moving upmarket, progressing up the resort life cycle (Butler, 1980). The destination has changed from being a backpackers’ ‘party island’ (Hampton and Hampton, 2009) to increasingly hosting dive tourism and more upmarket tourists. This paper reports part of a longitudinal study that began with fieldwork in the 1990s (Hampton, 1998) and was updated with more recent fieldwork in late 2011.

Direct fast boat access from Bali has facilitated rapidly growing tourist arrivals and the number of dive operators has increased significantly, as has the supply of accommodation, restaurants and other facilities. The island’s coral reefs and marine resources have been under pressure from rapid tourism growth, and local responses have included forming an NGO - Gili Eco Trust – to better manage the resource (Graci, 2013). However, Indonesia’s changing political economy demonstrates a complex mix of actors and influences, with divergence between adat (traditional law) and commercial pressures, and this acts in combination with layers of governance under decentralisation. The result is that island tourism, and dive tourism in particular, is operating within a challenging and fast-changing political economy which has serious implications for future sustainability of this island destination.