Background

Tourism is considered, and in many cases has been proved, to be a means of economic development. Ecotourism is an alternative to mass tourism that aims to be a sustainable alternative and a means of providing economic benefits to the local community. Labundobundo is a small village in Buton, southeast Sulawesi and is host to Operation Wallacea which is a non-profit organisation running an research programme for scientists. It is a good case study to observe the actual percentage of money that stays within the local community as a result of the presence of Operation Wallacea and the level of any multiplier effect and external leakage associated with this activity.

Aims

The aims of this project are to quantify the expenditure of Operation Wallacea on the everyday running of the Labundobundo centre and the level of leakage out of Labundobundo. The objectives of the project are to identify exactly what is bought and where it is bought, thereby indicating how much revenue stays in the local community and how much goes out to larger towns further away. Another objective of the project is to find the residence of members of staff to identify the numbers employed from inside the community compared to those employed from outside. This will allow the determination of the proportion of wages which stays within the local community and how much leaks out. A further objective of the project will be to find the amount of money that volunteers are directly putting into the local community. After conducting this project it may be possible to make suggestions on how more money could be kept within the local community and how, to some extent, leakage can be avoided.

Methodology

In order to identify the total expenditure of Operation Wallacea and the type of commodity that money is spent on it was firstly necessary to analyse the accounts. These were categorised into the following groups of expenditure: food, accommodation, energy sources (i.e. electricity, petrol, kerosene), kitchen equipment, staff salaries, transport, building equipment, stationary, white sacks and photocopying. The accounts were then categorised further, by the location of purchase, which are Lawele, Labundobundo and Bau-Bau. Purchases from Bau-Bau are recorded by the Operation Wallacea site manager. Observational surveys were carried out in Lawele and Labundobundo to see the quantities and prices of products purchased. Structured interviews with open questions were conducted with the Operation Wallacea site manager and the kepala desa in Labundobundo, with the intention of obtaining information on the system of procuring goods and employing staff, and reasons for this and ways in which they would like it to change. 15 farmers in Labundobundo were interviewed using structured interviews in order to find out what they have sold to Operation Wallacea in the past and what they would like to provide.

Indonesian staff employed by Operation Wallacea were categorised in terms of their occupation and information regarding wages and place of residence were obtained. This was used to determine the extent to which salaries result in leakage of income out of the local community. For those members of staff that do live in Labundobundo it was necessary to investigate where exactly they spend their wages in order to see any further leakage or additional money that is being spent within the local community. This information was obtained through structured interviews with open questions which were conducted with 15 of the 20 porters and guides, all 9 kitchen staff and all 18 houses that were rented to volunteers. Finally, Labundobundo has 5 small shops selling daily needs. Again, structured interviews with open questions were conducted with the shop owners. The aim of this was to find out where stock is bought, income change due to Operation Wallacea and the destination of any profit. To further the knowledge of expenditure in the local shops by Operation Wallacea it was necessary to note how much 10 volunteers spent each week they were here.

Initial findings

Full analysis of the data is not complete and collection of financial records is ongoing until 27^th June. However, some initial observations can be noted. During the first week in which analysis of expenditure was undertaken (25^th June to 2^nd July), 58% of Operation Wallacea expenditure was in the town of Bau-Bau located 70km away, whilst 38% was in the village of Labundobundo and 4% in the neighbouring village of Lawele. During the second week, 72% was in Bau-Bau, 28% in Labundobundo and 2% in Lawele.

It is important to realise at this stage that the figures given are at a very preliminary stage and may change with further in-depth analysis. However from this initial information one can see that a considerable amount of money does in fact leak out of the local community to Bau-Bau. This reflects the variety of specialised goods required by Operation Wallacea and also the large quantities of daily foodstuffs required, which cannot be met by the local markets without compromising their role as suppliers to local communities. The bulk of expenditure in Labundobundo relates to accommodation which is rented from local houseowners and salaries paid to staff who live locally.

Once the full dataset is available, these will be used along with interviews with local individuals to determine the full extent of any multiplier effect which may be operating in the local village economy. Proposals will also be made which may serve to increase the proportion of local spend and ensure that this is distributed as equitably as possible within and between local villages.

Final report

The results of this project will be collated into a report entitled The financial impacts of an ecotourism operation in Buton, southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia by Lucy Gardiner, University of Portsmouth. This will be completed by May 2002.