The Tourism Implications of Three Asian Disasters by David Beirman

Over the past few days, three separate incidents in Asia have had differing set of implications for tourism in the areas in which they occurred.

While all serious, the most serious event is the earthquake which occurred in the Indonesian province of Yogjakarta, the largest city of central Java, just before dawn on Saturday 27 May, with this earthquake measuring between 5.9–6.3 on the Richter scale, causing massive destruction with a death toll approaching 5,000 people and an estimated 4,000 people injured.

The Indonesian government and international aid agencies have focussed their immediate attention on rescue and relief for the victims, with at least 200,000  people are homeless and extensive damage to property.

In a media release on 28 May, the Marketing Director of the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism Mr Thamrin Bachri, stated that there were no casualties amongst tourists nor reports of hotel collapses and damage to Yogyakarta’s airport was slight.

Since the earthquake, priority at Yogyakarta airport is being given for relief flights and passenger flights are currently redirected to Solo and Semarang, both within 100kms of Yogyakarta.  Claims made in some sections of the media said that some hotels including the Yogyakarta Sheraton had sustained damage but there is no official confirmation.

Central Java is one of Indonesia’s most visited regions after Bali and the location of the world heritage site of Borobudur, SE Asia’s largest Buddhist monument, less than 25 kms from Yogyakarta.  Borobudur was reported to have been undamaged in the May 27 quake, but the nearby Prambanam Hindu Temple complex  which is also a world heritage site, sustained damage to some of the smaller buildings in the 250 temple complex.  The ancient royal capital of Yogyakarta, rich in historical and cultural sites, survived the earthquake with minimal damage.

The entire region lies in the shadow of Indonesia’s most active volcano, Mt Merapi, which is undergoing one of its periodic eruptions, with seismologists and volcanologists suggesting that the earthquake is linked to the volcano’s current eruption, placing Merapi on Code Red, the highest level of eruption alert.

I very clearly recall the extent to which 2,900 metre high Mt Merapi dominates a large area of central Java and Borabudur, about 10kms from Mt Merapi, was rediscovered in 1814 after the temple complex lay buried for centuries underneath layers of volcanic ash accumulated from repeated eruptions of Mt  Merapi.

The May 27 earthquake and the continuous activity of Mt Merapi will severely curtail tourism in the Central Java region for some time, with the Indonesian government appropriately focusing their attention on the rescue and relief efforts for the immediate future.  It is notable that the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism quickly enacted a proactive crisis communications approach to the earthquake and this approach will need to be maintained for an indeterminate period of time until the Ministry can move to the recovery phase.

The current escalation of civil disorder in Timor Leste  (East Timor) is a major blow to the plans of the Timor Leste government to build the country’s fledgling tourism industry.

Timor Leste’s government  placed a great deal of emphasis on encouraging sustainable small scale tourism development as a means to create employment and enhance the economic development of the recently independent state, which recently and quickly joined the World Tourism Organisation and PATA and sought the suuport of both organisations to assist in the country’s tourism development.

Since attaining independence in 2002, Timor Leste had begun to develop and market a range of small scale tourism enterprises, but the severity of violence in Timor Leste will clearly place this process on hold until stability can be restored.

The third incident is the death of seven domestic Sri Lankan tourists in a land mine explosion at the Wilpattu National Park in northern Sri Lanka on Sunday 28 May.  The explosion caused the highest number of tourist casualties of any single incident in the undeclared civil war between the Sri Lankan Government and Tamil separatists.

The Wilpattu National Park is located in territory clamed by the Tamils and was closed to visitors for 17 years re-opening in 2003.

Unlike other violent incidents in this long running conflict, there is a question as to whether this particular explosion can be defined as a deliberate act of terrorism or a tragic accident.  However, according to Brigadier Samarasinghe of the Sri Lankan Army,  interviewed by Reuters immediately after the explosion, he claimed the mine was planted on a frequently used main road through the park suggesting that this was a deliberate attack by the Tamil Tigers.

While the landmine explosion will certainly deter both local and domestic tourists from visiting the Willpattu National Park, it is unlikely to have a major impact in the overall state of international tourism to Sri Lanka, which has featured patchy growth since 2002. 

Foreigners are routinely warned by their own governments and the Sri Lankan Tourist Board against visiting areas under Tamil domination and although an accord was brokered in 2002 between the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government in March 2002, there have been many breaches of the cease fire, even following the destructive tsunami in December 2004 which claimed over 30,000 lives in Sri Lanka.   

In recent years, Sri Lankan tourism officials have been careful to isolate incidents which could detract from the positive image of tourism to the country and the Sri Lankan Tourism Bureau has crafted a positive image of cultural diversity and affordable luxury.

Sri Lanka tourism crisis management issues are taken seriously by officials, who frequently state they are committed to the safety of tourists, but without diminishing the tragic loss of civilian life in the landmine explosion, the extent of international publicity will be limited by the fact that the victims were not foreign visitors.

A report and update for The Mole by David Beirman, Director of Struan & Associates, Tourism Crisis and Recovery Specialists:  Mob 0419 615 479.