Navigating Socio-Environmental Shocks: An Examination of Coastal Tourism in Indonesia Amidst COVID-19

Abstract

Coastal tourism is being developed as an alternative or supplement to capture fisheries with the hopes that it would be able to bring economic growth, while also reducing environmental impacts, and improving social well-being. Despite the wealth of existing literature, there is still a lack of clear assessment on whether tourism proves to be the better path forward for coastal communities. This research used a mixed methods approach that included field observations and semi-structured interviews in 5 rural coastal communities in Indonesia that are in the process of transitioning from capture fisheries to tourism to understand the impacts of the transition on i) the local communities, ii) the environment, and iii) the communities’ capacity to cope with shocks, utilizing the corona virus disease of 2019 (COVID-2019) pandemic to conduct a case study of how the industries cope with shock. Overall, the findings from this research shed light on the complex and dynamic relationship between coastal tourism and capture fisheries, demonstrating potential benefits and challenges related to the coexistence of both industries. The study of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how the presence of the two can allow communities to better respond to changes, suggesting the importance of considering interconnections of productive activities when planning coastal development strategies worldwide.