Chapter 5 - Tourism in an Inter-state Borderland: The Case of the Indonesian–Singapore Cooperation

Abstract

Cross-border cooperation is of obvious importance for the mutual strengthening of the tourism industries of neighbouring countries. Indeed, transnational approaches to tourism are becoming more common, as shown by the World Tourism Organisation's concept of ‘inter-regional planning’ and promotion of transnational tourist attractions in diverse parts of the world such as ‘The Mayan World’, the ‘Andes Route’ and ‘Jewels of the Mekong’ (Chang, 1998:77). As well as fitting the nature of the tourism destination, such approaches recognise that tourists will often have a regional rather than a specific destination in mind when making their travel choices. Where the political border divides geographical features, cross-border cooperation can facilitate the marketing of natural travel corridors such as a shared coastline or an archipelago. Cross-border cooperation may help to diversify the appeal of each individual destination by promoting access to complementary locations. It can rationalise investments in tourist infrastructure by encouraging the sharing of facilities such as airports. It can disperse congestion of tourists in one location and prevent the displacement of indigenous communities. Lastly, it can help to spread economic benefits accrued from tourism (Pearce, 1989; Wall, 1997).