Local habitus and temporal overtourism in Yogyakarta

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to unpack personal narratives of local residents in relation to the effects of overtourism in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The paper uses Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to understand how local residents cope with temporal overtourism.Design/methodology/approachFindings were gathered from observations and interviews. Interviews were conducted with 12 informants, consisting of local small-to-medium enterprise tourism entrepreneurs, local informal tourism workers and a group of locals uninvolved in tourism.FindingsThe paper has two key findings. First, locals uninvolved in tourism show empathetic behavior toward the locals involved in tourism despite their experiencing negative effects of tourism. The involved locals, for their part, were aware of the importance of resolving issues with the uninvolved locals through regular communication so as to secure the sustained future of tourism. Second, the use of social capital by involved and uninvolved locals reflects the local Javanese culture and value system in which social harmony and integration are paramount.Research limitations/implicationsLocal habitus forms and informs locals’ perceptions on temporal overtourism issues. It enables an understanding on how locals manage the effects of overtourism in Yogyakarta. The habitus, which is greatly influenced by Javanese values, creates attitudes and behaviors which are empathetic and tolerant.Practical implicationsTo avoid the potential conflict when overtourism explicitly or implicitly frustrates locals, policy should be formulated by taking into account the findings of this paper on the local habitus. The study contributes to the overtourism debate by looking at the inter-relationship of local social structures and cultural context with local responses to temporal overtourism.Originality/valueUsing the concept of habitus, this research deepens existing understanding on the local responses toward overtourism. This research expects to theoretically enrich and complexify debates on tourism–habitus nexus in tourism studies.