International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.25, 247-259
247
Research Article Open Access
Scrutinizing Coastal Ecotourism in Gili Trawangan, Indonesia
Hengky Sumisto Halim
Bina Darma University, Director of Kent Polytechnic SHINE Institute, Indonesia
Corresponding email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No. 25 doi
Received: 19 May, 2017
Accepted: 14 Jun., 2017
Published: 22 Jun., 2017
Copyright © 2017
Halim, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Halim H.S., 2017, Scrutinizing coastal ecotourism in Gili Trawangan, Indonesia, International Journal of Marine Science, 7(25): 247-259 (doi:
Abstract
Gili-Trawangan is one of three of the most popular tourist destination in Lombok. It‟s located lined with 3 other
destinations. Based on the comparison of three approaches derived of coastal-ecotourism, it is found that the impact of tourism is
determined by the relationship and interaction between the economic-natural, environment, socio-cultural variables, and sub-systems.
There are three main issues that should be done to improve coastal ecotourism performance in Gili-Trawangan: sustainable living
patterns, conserving coastal community resources, and enhancing regional economic-development. To address environmental
concerns, it‟s needed to maintain environmental cleanliness and minimum of building sites. Besides, it is necessary to conserve a
mangrove, sea grass beds, coral reefs, and marine fish as well as ecotourism-fishing. It can be used as a marine fishing tourism too.
The effort would increase the number of tourist visits and it‟s also increase the income of the community and local government.
Keywords
Coastal-ecotourism; Economics-development; Natural environment; Coastal community
Introduction
Gili-Trawangan is one of three of the most popular tourist destination in Lombok. It‟s located lined with 3 other
destinations, from the closest to the island of Lombok is Gili Air, and Gili-Meno. All of them have considerable
tourism potential, but the most rapidly growing and becoming a holiday destination is Gili-Trawangan, a number
of supporting facilities are available complete such as accommodation, restaurant, Automated Teller Machine, and
transportation facilities. Various interesting treats you can see on the island. The island is beautiful white sand, the
feel of the party is thick, so in addition tourists can feel the calm atmosphere can also enjoy the lively night
entertainment with the feel of the party. Gili-Trawangan has the widest area among the three of them, with an area
around the island along the 7.5 kilo meters and the area of about 340 hectares, tourists can tour the island tour by
riding a bicycle paddle or ride horse-drawn carriage namely „Cidomo‟ to enjoy the beauty of the island, because
there is no use of motorbikes or cars in the area (Yum, 2017).
Gili-Trawangan with an area of 340 hectares is the largest island. Its take an hour to go around the island. With the
size is not too large, the tourists are so easy to explore the three islands. From year to year, the number of tourists
to West Nusa-Tenggara continues to grow. According to Central Bureau of Statistics, tourists visit the last three
years continues to increase. In 2013, the number of tourists reached 1.4 million, then up to 1.6 million in 2014,
and 2.2 million in 2015. This year, the Department of Culture and Tourism of the islands is targeting tourists to
reach 3 million (Muhajir, 2017). Moreover, in the Ministry of Tourism note, the average foreign tourists who go to
the Gili-Trawangan reach to 1200 people per day. This coast becomes a tourist interest on visiting Lombok that
has a wealth of powerful marine tourism. The sand is white, clean, the water is clear, and many dive sites are one
of the paradise for divers. Inside the beach is a shipwreck that has become a house of coral reefs and herds of fish
as well as a turtle.
There are three locations under the sea beauty at Gili-Trawangan, West Nusa-Tenggara snorkeling at shipwreck
point, turtle point, and coral garden. More than 3,000 foreign and domestic tourists daily visit the three islands that
enter this regency of North Lombok. Most of them came to enjoy the beauty of the underwater. In the same
location as they swim and use swimming glasses, frog boots, and some wearing life jackets. They swim in each
