MICE hosting center. Bali’s success is extensive to the extent that many interna- tional, political, economic, and environmental meetings are hosted in Bali, making
it almost the second capital after Jakarta. Despite known widely as a popular cultural destination, the island remains a strong attraction for sun seekers and beach surfers
coming from mostly Western source markets. It is these beach tourist segments that this chapter explores the lessons appropriate for implementation in Phu Quoc.
Fischer 2012
argues that islands need not develop to the extent that they lose their identity and become the Manhattan or Hong Kong in an attempt to engage in a
cosmopolitan life or transform into a purely tourists’ island. In this sense, Bali has managed to contain for the most part of tourist activities in designated areas without
intruding much into the living space of the ordinary Balinese. Agriculture though has been increasingly displaced by tourism; there is still a degree of continuity in
the fi sheries and agricultural sector. This is another reason; the island of Gods is selected for Phu Quoc’s emulation.
In this reference-comparative study, focusing on lessons that could be learned follows the call by Pearce
1993 to further advance the fi eld to draw out a contrast
between two cases. Based mainly on secondary sources such as existing literature and news articles, a number of lessons are drawn on the areas of Bali ’s tourism
development. These areas of interests include infrastructure, hospitality policy or practices, and land-related development issues. A paragon of development model or
master plan always runs into multi-sector issues as it does with a variety of socio- cultural links Prideaux
2009 . Thus, as we use Bali as a reference point, Phu Quoc
is analyzed contextually within the conditions on the island and Vietnam’s national designs to promote tourism.
6.4 Bali : An Indonesian Tourism Project
Bali ’s policy and planning has been very much from the island’s policy makers as well as Jakarta’s planning commission. Taking into account the Balinese culture
and tourism sector developments, the island had sped fast its time to build world- class resorts and catapulted into a cultural destination. In this section, we examine
Bali’s growth pattern, zoning scheme, and Balinese industry participation.
In the 1980s, as Bali was enjoying peak tourism arrivals, there were issues related to the way Western beach goers were scantily dressed and making loud merry noises
at the bars. At the same time, the Balinese street vendors were also harassing happy beach goers with souvenir sales and massage services. These issues were addressed
by the Balinese authorities in an amicable way.
Today, due to the over exploitation of the environment by activities in the tourism industry, Bali is facing a serious environmental degradation issues. One of other
issues that also contribute to the harm of environment is the lack of waste manage- ment, water scarcity due to the improper water supply, massive land conversion, and
increasing traffi c jams Cole 2012
. Land-related problems are normally very com- plex due to the rapid development of tourism industry in Bali. The land scarcity
increases the demand of land use for tourism operation and raises confl icting issues
balitrulyyahoo.com
Rais 1997
. The combination of population increase and development activities in both tourism industry and citizen migration has led to competing demands for land.
In the early days of Bali ’s modern tourism, the government had allocated vast land area to welcome international investors Vietnam Investment Review
2005 .
One method in which the Balinese authorities employed was to create designated zones. For example, Nusa Dua is a special zone, most of the hotels matching inter-
national standards have been built here exceed in number of rooms than those in the Kuta and outlying regions which have to adhere to a maximum of 40 rooms
only. There are many small and medium size hospitality and travel businesses with a small number of individual entrepreneurs since the cost of entry is very low
compared to large industry establishment. Indeed, the cost of constructing a room in the early days, 1980, was US6,218 per room for a small size hotel compared
to US39,444 for a room by international standards Rodenburg
1980 . Most of
these small hotels sell rooms directly to their customers. Two-third of the small hotels’ customers are independent tourists, the rest are package and group travel-
ers. Due to the enormous amount of investment capacity from international brands and the unfavorable currency exchange rate for operating the business, the large
international standard hotels do not generate direct income as much as the small and craft industries do to the Balinese economy and society. More signifi cantly by
this practice, Bali has created spaces for small and medium size businesses to fl ourish alongside the international and recognized brands and established
businesses.
6.5 Signifi cant Points of Reference for Phu Quoc
