These projects include an assessment of the economic impact of the Operation Wallacea project (5.2), current attitudes to ecotourism (5.3) and the proposed ecotourism management plan for Hoga Island submitted to the Government by Operation Wallacea in September 2000 (5.4).

Introduction

Using Operation Wallacea as a case study, this study was aimed at examining the local economic impacts of a scientific research station and to make recommendations for improving how Operation Wallacea's spend can better support local communities. Operation Wallacea has been established on Hoga Island since 1995 and presently relies on the local community for a variety of goods and services. This study will seek to prioritise areas where local sources of produce may be utilised in the future. The increasing number of volunteers to the island has resulted in increased economic activity on the neighboring island of Kaledupa and Sampela, and suggestions are made as to how these benefits may be distributed more equitably.

The study set up five main objectives for investigation;

1. How much money does Operation Wallacea receive on Hoga and what is this money used for?
2. Does this money affect local level economic activity throughout the year?
3. To what extent is this money retained in the local economy and what proportion is leaked out into a larger economic area?
4. Is the money equitably distributed amongst the local population?
5. How can the distribution of economic growth and retention of money be improved to enhance the current situation at a sustainable level?

Research was conducted mainly through semi-structured interviews as well as detailed analysis of the Hoga accounts and the Operation Wallacea budgets for 2000. Further analysis of these accounts will take place later on return to the U.K. The interviews were focused on five key interests groups who directly benefit from Operation Wallacea;

• Land owners on Pulau Hoga
• Indonesian staff employed by Operation Wallacea
• Shopkeepers on Kaledupa
• Fishermen from Sampela
• Farmers on Kaledupa

Other less structured interviews took place with various members of British staff, and the Director of Operation Wallacea. The semi-structured interviews allowed the respondent to express their views and for the interviewer to probe a little more in detail. All the interviews were based on the same structure with the main aim to establish the importance of Operation Wallacea in terms of their monthly income. Other standard questions asked the number of people in the immediate family, in order to examine the distribution of income, and sought to ascertain where and how people spent their income. This was to assess whether locals spend money within the local community or elsewhere, i.e. leakage and retention. The Hoga budgets showed a breakdown of expenditure locally and non-locally. This data was used to calculate the percentage of money which was spent on various products and services.

Preliminary Findings

The preliminary findings indicate that since Operation Wallacea has been established levels of economic growth have increased in the nearby village of Ambeua. Most of the food shopping takes place in this village as it is the main one on the island and as a result is the most reliable local source of produce. Further research is being undertaken to try and increase the current expenditure on Kaledupa. Proposals have been to establish a co-operative whereby a number of farmers grow more fruit and vegetables to meet a quota system set by Hoga throughout the year. Such a system would mean that money could be retained in the economy instead of leaking out to Bau Bau. Interviews took place with several local farmers on Kaledupa to establish what is currently grown on the island. The results shown that there were several products which Operation Wallacea currently buy from Bau Bau which could be bought on Kaledupa. These included tomatoes, pineapples, aubergine, and cucumber. Although there is not a high demand for these products amongst locals, the farmers were keen to point out that they would be willing to grow more if a demand from Hoga could be guaranteed. Operation Wallacea are aware in advance of the numbers of volunteers who will be staying on the island and could therefore arrange a pre-order contract system for these items.

Ambeua is also where guests stay in local houses to complete a week long language course. Locals get paid Rp42,500 per person per night, and must provide all meals for the week. Concerns have arisen that it is the wealthier members of the community who benefit from the language course and thus distribution is limited to a small sector of the village.

Of the Indonesian staff employed by Operation Wallacea, 81% are from the local communities of Ambeua, Buranga, Burake, Laulua and Sampela. Of this group a further 90% stated that Operation Wallacea was their most important source of income even though over ¾ of them have another source of income besides Operation Wallacea. There have been comments from Sampela that members of the community who do work on Hoga have begun to neglect their duties on Sampela. Reasons for this included the increase in freedom and the alternative Western lifestyle which exists on Pulau Hoga. Although a significant number of people are positively financially benefiting from Operation Wallacea there is concern that some individuals are losing their Bajo identity. Further studies into the attitudes and perceptions of local people have been undertaken.

The Operation Wallacea records list 16 land owners on Hoga who rent houses to the volunteers during the course of the year. The peak season is between July and August and this is when most if not all of the houses are rented to volunteers. Only one of these landowners, is not from Kaledupa, but from mainland Buton. This landowner also has the highest house occupancy throughout the year, and 43% of Operation Wallacea’s total rent expenditure is given to this owner. This a significant amount of money which is being lost to the local community. The reason for this is that this landowner was the first person to build houses on Hoga and a contract was established whereby the first 24 volunteers must use his accommodation. As a result of this, other smaller landowners who do not have as many beds often have vacant houses during the season. It was established that occupancy rates in a 22 day period varied significantly from 18-100%. It was concluded that there were two main reasons for this variation;

1. Poor quality housing was always occupied last during peak times. The higher quality accommodation was always prioritised
2. Because of the rapid increase in volunteer numbers there has been a sudden rise in the number of houses being built on Hoga. At the time of this study many houses had only just been completed and therefore were not available for rent during the 22 day period over which the research was undertaken.

Of the 12 house owners interviewed (including those who supply accommodation for the language week in Kaledupa) only 30% said that Operation Wallacea provided their most important source of income. 70% had another income which they considered to be more important. All of the landowners interviewed had an alternative source of income other than renting their houses, and this ranged from lawyers and teachers to people who sold clothes and food at the local market.

The final interest group studied were the fishermen from Sampela. Research is still being collected but from our existing data we can see that many fisherman do not view Operation Wallacea as a reliable or vitally important income source. On the mainland of Kaledupa fish is bought for 3-4,000Rp/K and on Hoga for 7,000Rp/K. This is a significant mark up, however fishermen regarded this as an occasional bonus rather than being something that they could rely upon. Limitations on which fish Operation Wallacea would actually buy, which excludes reef fish, bombed fish or those that are too small means that often fisherman are precluded from selling to Operation Wallacea. Fish are bought on a first come first serve basis and often during the day fishermen are refused as enough has already been bought. The interviews in Sampela indicated that some older fisherman were more concerned about the negative impacts of tourism than the monetary gains that could be made from selling fish to Pulau Hoga.

Conclusions

The distribution of economic growth is centralised around 2 main towns, Ambeua and Buranga and very little filters elsewhere on the island at the moment. The situation between Sampela and Hoga seems to work effectively, and there are over 20 different fishermen who sell fish to Operation Wallacea, most only visiting the island 2 or 3 times each month. There seems little that could be done to improve the existing scenario with Sampela. What was noted is that whilst Kaledupa receives a significant proportion of the current financial benefits, it is the Bajo fishing village which bears most of the costs imposed by the Marine National Park.

Overall, local economic growth has been a positive thing and local people certainly want it to continue. More money could go into the local community providing that it reaches people who currently have little awareness or activities related to Operation Wallacea. The final dissertations will make recommendations to improve and maintain levels of financial distribution whilst keeping the cultural aspects of the area in mind.

To encourage more services out of Sampela is not a feasible option. Logistical and cultural differences make working with an indigenous community difficult, and empowerment of such communities should not be tackled by trying to improve their economies, but rather through trying to understand and appreciate their own needs and values.

Reports

Dissertations entitled The Economic Impacts of Ecotourism in the Wakatobi Marine National Park will be produced by March 2001 by Hannah Ahonen from the University of York, Lucy Jenkins from the University of Leeds and Daisy Tyson Taylor from the University of Newcastle.

Introduction

The main aim was to discover the perceptions and attitudes of the local people and staff within the Wakatobi Marine National Park, about the impact of the developing ecotourism on various social, economic, environmental and cultural aspects. Hoga Island, on which Operation Wallacea is based, is zoned for ecotourism as is Tomia Island, also in the Marine National Park, where Wakatobi Divers are based. There is the possibility that ecotourism will grow in the National Park over the next few years and this study has been carried out as a baseline study of attitudes to the impact that tourism is currently having and how it might affect social, economic, environmental and cultural aspects in the future.

Postcard bought from one of the 3 local art shops recently opened on Hoga Island

Individuals were selected for interview from six main interest groups consisting of :

• Indonesian staff that work on Hoga for Operation Wallacea
• Western staff that work on Hoga for Operation Wallacea
• House owners on Hoga for Operation Wallacea
• General local people in Ambeau, Kaledupa
• Shop owners in Kaledupa that Operation Wallacea use
• Local fishermen from Sampela which sell to Operation Wallacea

The main interview technique that was used was a semi structured interview which allowed a flexibility within the interviews for different social levels of understanding and unfamiliar social research procedures. There are three advantages of semi structured interviews :

1. It allows the respondent to converse naturally while being guided by the interviewer.
2. It helps prevent the investigator’s preconceptions from getting mixed into the data.
3. It allows for in-depth probes once a critical issue surfaces during the interview.

As well as these groups more in depth interviews were conducted with the Director of Operation Wallacea, the Head of the Wakatobi Marine National Park, the Kepala Desa of the Bajo village of Sampela, an employee of the Wakatobi Dive Resort and some locals in the community in Tomia.

Initial Findings

Social

The research revealed that communication links need to be further improved between Operation Wallacea and the local communities. Many of those interviewed did not even know what or who Operation Wallacea were, and when they expressed knowledge they often thought that it was a tourist area for divers. Only a small minority knew that research was occurring on Hoga and even then they thought that it was confined to underwater research. This should be addressed though by the free 3 day courses being run for local people in November by Operation Wallacea to give a better understanding of what Operation Wallacea is doing in the area. However, there needs to be follow up to make sure that an even distribution of people are actually receiving the information.

Many local people felt that there should be more community development projects being set up to further spread the economic benefits. They came up with ideas like small farms to grow vegetables and meat for Operation Wallacea. They also thought that if they could have grants to start small businesses up they could provide Hoga with more supplies rather than them getting them from Bau Bau. Operation Wallacea has agreed to address this issue and agree contracts with families in Kaledupa to provide vegetables and chickens for the 2001 season.

Cultural

A main issue was the dress code and different behavioural issues that the Westerners bring to Hoga. Many of the respondents felt that it was fine on Hoga but if tourists went to Kaledupa then local sensitivities should be respected and tourists should dress appropriately. There were a minority of respondents though who felt that it was still unsuitable because the locals visiting Hoga are being influenced and, when they go back to their village, their attitudes have changed.

The responses to these questions were mainly positive because the local people are benefiting economically. In general the respondents want more ecotourists to come so they have more work and money being put into the community. .

Environmental

Operation Wallacea staff generally felt that even though more visitors are bringing a better economic benefit to the area, that there should be a limit on the number of people and buildings being developed on Hoga in order to conserve the wilderness feel. The level of this carrying capacity for the island still has to be determined and will be the subject of more detailed studies in 2001. An ecotourism management plan for Hoga is also being developed so that growth towards the carrying capacity can be planned.

One major point that came out of the research was the much closer involvement by the local communities in the Operation Wallacea operation compared with Wakatobi Divers on Tomia Island.

Report

A dissertation entitled Attitudes And Perceptions Towards Ecotourism Within The Wakatobi Marine National Park will be completed by March 2001 by Julie Roberts from the University of London.

Introduction

Hoga Island has the potential to provide significant income from ecotourism revenue for the people of Kaledupa. Over the years though, there have been a number of attempts to develop the island for tourism following the construction of the Adat House with funding from the World Bank. Although hopes were high in the early 1990’s when the initial investment was made, the anticipated tourism did not materialise and the Adat House remained empty and unused for a number of years.

This report has been prepared as a discussion document from which interested parties (local Government on Kaledupa, the Marine National Park authorities, the Tourism Department, land-owners on Hoga, those currently employed by tourism on Hoga, suppliers of goods for tourists on Hoga, tour operators on Hoga) can review how tourism has begun to develop over the last few years (section 2) and the facilities available on the island by September 2000 (section 3). The document also suggests a series of policies (section 4) that could be adopted by the local Government in Kaledupa to help protect the asset of Hoga Island as tourism develops and ensure an equitable distribution of revenue to the people of Kaledupa.

Adat House - the current site of the Research Centre on Hoga ; Photo Adam Powell

In 1995 Operation Wallacea, a biological survey organisation bringing paying volunteers to help with diving surveys of the area, began operations using the Adat House on Hoga as its base. The paying volunteers were attracted to the area by a substantial marketing campaign run by Operation Wallacea, including advertising on TV and in magazines and newsapers in the UK and Singapore. This helped raise awareness about an area of Indonesia which was not included at the time in any of the travel guides available to tourists in those markets. The lobbying by Operation Wallacea and its partner organisation, the Wallacea Development Institute, for protection of the reefs of the Tukangbesi, led to the establishment of the Marine National Park in 1996. From a tourism viewpoint this development enhanced the reputation of the area for its natural beauty and wildlife and provided an additional attraction for visitors.

From 1995 to 1998, about 100 visitors per year came to Hoga with Operation Wallacea for an average of approximately 3 weeks each (300 man weeks). Visitors were housed in the Adat House and the operation relied heavily on supplies from Bau-Bau, Makassar and overseas. A Singapore based dive charter boat, the Empress was used by the project and travelled around the National Park. In 1999, all the marketing work that had been done to raise awareness of the beauty of the area began to pay off and the numbers of visitors to the island with Operation Wallacea began to increase. What made this particularly remarkable was that the increase came at a time of political uncertainty when the bad international press about Indonesia had seriously affected tourism numbers visiting other parts of the country. This increase continued into 2000 when there have been approximately 200 visitors to the island staying on average 3 weeks each (600 man weeks) with Operation Wallacea. Most of the visitors are University students from the UK and Operation Wallacea has established a strong reputation in this market.

At the end of 1999 as it became apparent that visitor numbers were beginning to increase, Operation Wallacea decided to outsource all accommodation on the island from the 2000 season onwards. This trend was encouraged by the construction during the 1999 season of Wakatobi Cottages by Pak Kasim from Bau-Bau which provided a standard which could be adopted by other land owners on Hoga. All accommodation for visitors and staff with Operation Wallacea in 2000 has been in local houses and the quantity of local accommodation steadily grown over the 2000 season. In addition as much local sourcing as possible of supplies has been done through Kaledupa. Including the employment of local people, supplies of goods and services and rental payments to house owners, Operation Wallacea has been investing Rp 150 million per month for the peak months of July and August in the Kaledupan economy. Efforts have also been made to ensure that this income has been spread to as many families as possible. A detailed report on the financial spend by Operation Wallacea in the local community of Kaledupa in 2000 and how this money has been shared amongst various families will be completed by March 2001 and will form the basis against which Operation Wallacea will try to increase spend yet further in the 2001 season.

At the same time as Operation Wallacea was starting, a Dutch based organisation began helping to develop ecotourism on the island by investing in the construction of simple houses for use by western travellers. This market which is known as the ‘back packer’ sector has been responsible for opening up a number of locations around the World to young people who travel on tight budgets. The Lonely Planet series of books are the key information source for this group and the latest edition now contains details of Hoga and how to get there from Bau-Bau. The political uncertainties of recent years has, however affected this market which peaked in 1998 with up to 60 visitors staying on average 1 week each (60 man weeks). In 2000 the numbers of back packers has not exceeded 25 totaling 25 man weeks. This market is fundamentally different to that of Operation Wallacea in that it is not attracting tourists to come to Hoga directly from Europe (thus increasing total tourism to Indonesia) but rather trying to attract travellers already in Indonesia (hence adverts are put up in cheap accommodation where back packers are likely to stay in Makassar, Manado and Bali) to come to Hoga rather than stay in another location.

Present facilities on Hoga

Both Operation Wallacea and the backpacker tourists are highly seasonal in when they visit Hoga. Peak numbers are in July and August when western students are on holiday with a decline in September and very low numbers in the ‘shoulder’ months of June and October. Outside these months the Operation Wallacea base is closed. Very small numbers arrive on the island in the other months and these stay in the backpacker accommodation.

There is a great difference in the quality of accommodation required for the two markets. The backpacker market requires cheap, local accommodation whilst the Operation Wallacea volunteers who pay more for their trip need much higher quality accommodation. Figure 1 shows the houses available for rent in September 2000 in one of five categories of quality listed below;

Category 1 (red) Best quality and equivalent to the house designs proposed by Operation Wallacea for all new accommodation (Figures 2 – 4).

Category 2 (orange) Good quality, but not achieving the highest standard due to construction quality or too many beds per house.

Category 3 (yellow) Moderate quality. Usable by Operation Wallacea but requiring upgrading for 2001 season.

Category 4 (green) Low quality. Not usable in their current state by Operation Wallacea at present and requiring substantial upgrading for the 2001 season.

Category 5 (blue) Back packer accommodation. These are the houses that have been left for the back packer market so that the two groups of guests are kept separate.

Operation Wallacea is intending only to use Category 1 and 2 acommodation in 2001 and is negotiating with those landowners who have Category 3 and 4 accommodation about advance payments required in order to upgrade the accommodation in time for the start of the busy season in July 2001.

Operation Wallacea has diving facilities for up to 75 dives a day at present (ie. boats, compressors, dive gear sharing, bottles outboards etc.) as well as the associated safety equipment (oxygen kits, radios, satellite phone, nurse on site etc.) to run a safe diving operation. Operation Wallacea also brings a group of leading scientists in a range of disciplines each year who provide the expertise that enables research projects to be carried out by the volunteers on the project. It is the diving and the science projects that attract the Operation Wallacea visitors to the island. The back pack market needs fewer of these attractions in order to function as this market is generally looking for peaceful and beautiful locations away from the crowds, where they can relax.

How should Hoga be developed?

There are many examples of islands around the World where an initially idyllic setting has attracted a small number of visitors as with Hoga. As information about these islands becomes better disseminated, then the numbers of tourists arriving keeps on increasing. There is usually little planning control in these situations and local people at first build houses on as many sites as possible. Eventually investment from outside comes in to create more luxurious accommodation and the level of building activity increases yet further. By this stage though most of the money from the tourists no longer goes into the local community but leaks back to the investment source. Eventually numbers of people visiting the island become so great that the reason that tourists first started visiting (a beautiful environment, tranquillity, unspoilt area, contact with local people) have been lost and tourist numbers crash. This boom and bust cycle has been repeated in islands from the Caribbean to Greece to the Phillippines.

This discussion document has been prepared in an attempt to prevent Hoga going through a similar cycle and that the increase in numbers and its impact on the environment and the level of enjoyment of visitors is carefully planned and monitored. Managing the ecotourism on the island in this way should mean that Hoga provides a long term and steadily growing source of income for the people of Kaledupa.

The reason visitors come to Hoga now is that the island is unspoilt. There is a feeling of wilderness and a sense that after having travelled so far you have reached a place where the frenetic World from which most of the visitors come, has been left behind. The beaches are clean, the trees and shrubs have not been cut down, the reefs are mostly free from serious damage and the local people are very friendly and welcoming. It is these characteristics that attract the visitors and which need to be preserved at all costs, within a framework which allows a steady increase in income year on year to the local community. This increase doesn’t always have to come from increasing numbers of visitors each year (although this is one source), it can also come from ensuring that increasingly local supplies and labour are used by the tour operators on the island.

It is proposed therefore that a Hoga Management Committee to provide advice on how to maximise ecotourism revenue from the island for the people of Kaledupa is formed with representatives from the following groups;

• Camat’s office in Kaledupa
• Department of Tourism in Bau-Bau
• Marine National Park
• Land/accommodation owners on Hoga
• Shop and boat owners or staff providing goods or supplies to Hoga
• Local people employed in the tourism sector on Hoga
• Local fishermen
• Tour operators on Hoga

This committee would be given the following responsibilities’

• Agreeing a total number of visitors (in man weeks) that the island can support each year on Hoga. Until more detailed studies are completed on the maximum ‘carrying capacity’ for the island (numbers of people that the island could support and still retain the characteristics for which the visitors travel so far), the total annual increase in number of man weeks or the maximum number of visitors allowed on the island at any time should not be allowed to exceed 25% each year over the next 3 year period, so that there is time for the development of infrastructure to support this increase. During this time the Committee should prepare a report on the maximum carrying capacity of the island for tourists so that annual increases can be allocated up to this target level.
• Allocate the number of total number of man weeks and the maximum number of tourists at any one time each tour operator each year is allowed from within this total allowable quota for the island. If a tour operator is requesting an increase in numbers then the Committee will require written evidence of the following before considering an increase;

• The impact on water supply of the operation
• The impacts on water quality of the operation and how these are to be ameliorated
• How solid waste is being recycled or disposed
• Plans for elimination of litter around the sites used by the operator
• The impact in terms of physical damage to the reefs of diving or use of boats and how this is to be minimised
• How the operator is intending to maintain the wilderness feel of the island by spacing of accommodation, access paths, providing alternative attraction sites so that visitors are not all concentrated in one site etc.

• Require monthly data from each tour operator on the amount of money spent in Kaledupa on wages, contracts, supply of goods, boat hire, house rental, ground rental etc. These data are already available for Operation Wallacea and the committee should be requiring that the amount spent per visitor week in the local community increases year by year for each tour operator providing that adequate supplies can be obtained from Kaledupa..
• Approve any new tour operators wishing to start operations on the island on the basis of their environmental plans and estimated spend per tourist in the local community. This is not meant to be a method of excluding any new operator, but is meant to ensure that new operators conform to the same standards of environmental care and distribution of revenue that the existing operators are required to meet. It is hoped that the Committee will consider allocating previously undeveloped parts of the island to new operators to maintain the wilderness feel. Figure 5 shows potential areas around Hoga that could be utilised by new operators.
• Approve the construction of all houses on Hoga before any building commences. It is proposed that all the houses shown in Figure 1 are automatically given approval and that this permission should apply to new houses only. Only houses approved by the Committee would be available for use by the tour operators. The Committee should take into consideration the following points when approving a house
• Ownership of the house should be with a Kaledupan family
• The family proposing the new house should not be gaining a disproportionate share of the tourism revenue already.
• The minimum quantity of vegetation should be removed in order to construct the house and the house should be shielded by trees and shrubs wherever possible.
• The house should be set back so that it is not immediately apparent viewed from the sea.
• The house should be made of local materials and follow a design required by the tour operator who will be renting them.
• Mandi facilities should have a simple waste water treatment facility according to recommended standards as required by the tour operator utilising the house.
• The house should be positioned such that it maintains the wilderness feel of the island. Wherever possible the footpath to the house should be constructed inland rather than having l visitors walk past other houses in order to get to their accommodation.
• Each house owner contributes an agreed sum payable to the Committee which is used for provision of a maintenance service to ensure a high standard of service in areas such as waste disposal/recycling, clearing of litter, ensuring clean mandis and provision of water etc.