Between Tourism and Ecology : Review of Political Policy Commitments on Ecotourism Development in Bangka Belitung

Abstract

Tourism and ecology are two important issues in regional development planning in Bangka Belitung. As an archipelago that has a productive tin mining area, environmental damage is an important issue. Not only because of the impact of damages due to mining, but the dimensions of tourism which are important sectors in this area are also affected. In recent years, local governments in the Bangka Belitung region are focusing on working on the issue of tourism by relying on the ecotourism sector as an important alternative to post-mining. This study explores how political policies are arranged in regional planning documents. The research method used was descriptive qualitative by examining the regional medium-term development planning documents in 6 districts, 1 city, and 1 provincial government in Bangka Belitung. This study found 4 things. First, that none of the regional governments listed the vision of tourism and only 1 region that included an ecological vision. Secondly, the study found that there was only one government that made the issue of tourism in the development mission and only 3 regions mentioned the ecological mission, the rest only mentioned implicitly. Third, each region places tourism and ecological issues as two different programs, not considered an issue that must be managed synergistically. Fourth, almost all regional planning documents mention tourism and ecology as regional strategic issues, but they are not balanced with a strong vision, mission, and work program as a translation. Fifth, only 4 out of 8 regions have made the issue of developing ecotourism a regional strategic issue even though it has not been followed by a strong design development in development planning. In the end, this study concluded that tourism and ecology had not been placed optimally in planning documents politically.