Towards an effective tourism management in Karimunjawa National Park

Karimunjawa National Park is one of marine tourism destinations in Indonesia. Growing number of visitor on the last five years escalated up to 118,301 tourists and lead to mass tourism. It affected coral reef condition inside... [ view full abstract ]

Karimunjawa National Park is one of marine tourism destinations in Indonesia. Growing number of visitor on the last five years escalated up to 118,301 tourists and lead to mass tourism. It affected coral reef condition inside the park. Mean of hard coral cover within the park decreased from 57.86% to 49.89%, also in tourism zone, which decreased from 56.79% to 47.77%. Problem identification showed that weak management system within each tourism party lead to ineffective coordination. There are also other problems: lack of awareness on ecotourism, lack of tourism actor’s skill and knowledge, high disparity in tourism development, low variety in tourist attractions, and lack of supporting facilities and infrastructure. In order to promote best practice tourism as well as protecting the reefs, this study was conducted to identify the impact of tourism to the coral reef and investigate the potential leverage to enhance the best practice conservation area management. A set of coral reef condition data has been collected from the area affected by tourism. Supporting data from stakeholders were also collected using Focus Group Discussion. We developed programs on strengthening the tourism guide association, capacity and knowledge enhancement for tourism guide, monitoring the implementation of regulations, and improving supporting facilities and infrastructure, achieved legalized agreement in sub-district level between the community, National Park authority, Tourism Agency, village government, private sectors, local NGO, and tourism guide association. These efforts resulted in an agreement for a periodic closure system in a dedicated area for tourism, with punishment prior to violation.