AFFINITY TOURISM, CULTURAL IDENTITY AND GLOBALISM:

The GWK Park, Chinese and Indian Tourists In Bali

Prof. Dr. I Nyoman Darma Putra M.Litt

Prof. Dr. I Wayan Ardika, M.A.

Dr. Putu Sucita Yanthy, SS.,M.Par.

Scope

1. Background

2. Aims

3. Research Output

4. Literature Review

5. Research Method

6. Result and Discussion

7. Conclusion

Background

• The completion of GWK Park added a new cultural-based tourist attraction in Bali and a symbol of Balinese cultural identity.

• The increase in number of both China and Indian market segment.

• Along with Australia, China and India are the three biggest and growing Bali tourism market segment.

• There has also been negative images of Chinese tourists as ‘zero-dollar tourists’ and the frequently complaint of Indian tourists.

• Chinese and Indian visitors share a character of being tourists who like to see the similarity rather than the difference when they visit a destination.

Aims

The aim of this project is to analyse contemporary developments of global tourism in Bali through the lens of the biggest tourism markets: India and China.

• How are Chinese and Indian tourists influenced in their movements in Bali, and how are their experiences, expectations and opinions of their travels shaped?

• How is the narrative of ‘Balinese culture’ altered in the new tourism industry?

• How is Balinese identity changed under new currents of global tourism and how are local and national interests conflicting with Asian-global-tourism demands?

International Journal of Tourism ResearchSubmitted 31 October 2019

Chinese Outbound

In 2016, there were 135 million Chinese outbound travelers, a 6% increase from 2015.

Chinese Tourists in Ubud

Number of Indian Outbound 2013-2017

Year Number of Outbound

% Change

2013 16.626.316 11,4

2014 18.332.319 10,3

2015 20.376.307 11,1

2016 21.871.995 7,3

2017 23.942.957 9,5

Source: India Tourism Statistic 2018

Indian Tourists in Bali

No NATIONALITY R 2017 SHARE (%) R 2018 +/- (%) SHARE (%)

1 CHINESE I 1,385,850 24.32 I 1,361,512 -1.76 22.43

2 AUSTRALIAN II 1,094,974 19.22 II 1,169,215 6.78 19.26

3 INDIAN III 272,761 4.79 III 353,894 29.75 5.83

4 BRITISH V 243,827 4.28 IV 270,789 11.06 4.46

5 JAPANESE IV 252,998 4.44 V 261,666 3.43 4.31

6 AMERICAN VI 191,106 3.35 VI 236,578 23.79 3.90

7 FRENCH VII 177,864 3.12 VII 195,734 10.05 3.22

8 MALAYSIAN X 170,459 2.99 VIII 194,760 14.26 3.21

9 GERMAN VIII 177,184 3.11 IX 185,863 4.90 3.06

10 SINGAPOREAN XII 125,934 2.21 X 144,549 14.78 2.38

Top Ten Foreign Tourist Arrival to Bali, 2017 and 2018

Literature Review

• Bali is globally known as a tourist destination. Scholars have studied the relation between Balinese culture and tourism in great detail.

• Picard (1990; 1996) and Vickers (2012) show that Balinese culture has remained strong over the years because of tourism, not in spite of it.

• Recent research discussed different aspects of Balinese culture. Rahmawatiet. al (2019) discussed link of spirituality with corporate social responsibility in the context of Bali tourism; Pickel-Chevalier (2019) contribution of integrated touristic villages toward Bali tourism sustainability.

• Despite the huge body of literature on Bali tourism, there are issues remain unexplored including phenomena of the growing new market segments which are Chinese and Indian tourists.

Literature Review –cont.

This research investigates link between the existence of the GWK Cultural Park as a newly finished tourist attraction, Balinese cultural identity, and the phenomena of ‘Affinity Tourism’ shown by Chinese and Indian tourists in Bali.

The concept of ‘Affinity Tourism’, coined by Thirumaran (2009, is especially useful, because it shows us that the pull of tourism towards cultural heritage may be based on similarities. This is especially true for Indian tourist, but these arguments also apply to Chinese tourists

Research Method

• Library research

• In-depth Interviews

• Observation

• Tourism students who have a good command of Mandarin helped to interview Chinese tourist in their own language.

• Observation and interview with travel agents, guides, tourism authority, and India tourist in English were carried out by member of research team.

• Data were analysed by the concept of ‘affinity tourism’ and theory of ‘cultural identity’.

Chinese Tourists’ Perception on GWK

Ms. Li Xue Na says: ‘I don’t understand, especially that [Kecak] performance, is a little bit strange (…) The introduction is written in English, so I can’t understand’.

Miss Hong Yuting, called the park ‘boring’, explaining that: ‘Maybe this park has its own culture or meaning but as a foreign I can’t understand it. I think it represents Indonesia or its history.’

Kecak Dance at GWK

GWK

Indian Tourists Perception on GWK

1. The Indian tourist informants almost all strongly underlined the Hindu culture that is presented in the GWK Park.

2. Indian tourists immediately mentioned the Hindu culture as a distinct reason to visit Bali. Bali is seen as the ‘little brother’ of India.

3. Despite of similarities, most Indian tourists were able to clearly distinguishing between Balinese and Indian culture.

4. In the words of one tourist: “there is a clear difference between Hindu culture and (Balinese) Hindu religion. Therefore, the Park can never become a place of Hindu worshipping. However, it can grow into a representation of Hindu culture.

Conclusion

• The Garuda Wisnu statue is considered a landmark and representation of Bali;

• The cultural symbolism of the statue as a symbol of Balinese culture is strongly connected to affinity tourism. However, not all Asian tourists feel affinity with the Balinese culture;

• For Asian tourists that feel affinity with the Balinese culture, the park functions as a representation of Hindu culture, but not as a religious landmark.