Industry 4.0 and the future challenges for the local community to manage eco-tourism (a case study of the participatory eco-tourism management in Menipo Island, West Timor, Indonesia)

Abstract

Rapid development over the past two decades has brought us to the industrial revolution 4.0 era, where mastering information technology is an absolute thing for people to run their business. This situation is undoubtedly a challenge for the eco-tourism industry that involved local communities as well. This article aims to describe the current situations of the participatory eco-tourism management conducted by the local community and their strategies in dealing with the industrial era 4.0. The study was conducted in 2018 towards local people of Enoraen Village, Amarasi Timur District, Kupang Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, as the actors of eco-tourism management. The data and information in this paper are obtained using a quantitative method through the structured interview using questionnaires (n=100) and qualitative methods by collecting scientific writings published in journals and proceedings. This article concludes that there is a gap between the ability of local communities to access knowledge about information technology with massive demands for the use of this technology. We suggest that the development of information technology infrastructure and internet networks must reach remote villages. Furthermore, communities need assistance from any parties in order to be able to use these accesses to support eco-tourism management in Menipo.