Tourism, Government Policy, and Petty Entrepreneurs in Indonesia

Abstract

A major development in the Indonesian economy since the 1980s has been the expansion of the tourism industry. While this sector has prospered under the government policy of deregulation, the lower levels of the Indonesian economy have not benefited from the measures taken to facilitate growth in the tourism sector. The government has countered the deregulatory measures at the top with more regulation and control below. Increasing numbers of regulatory measures are directed particularly towards self-employed entrepreneurs and micro-businesses operating in the service and retail sectors. This article focuses on micro- and small-scale entrepreneurs operating on the edges of the formal and informal tourism sector, which is basically a service industry. To analyse the processes by which petty entrepreneurs in tourism manage their everyday social worlds, this article raises questions regarding the ways in which petty entrepreneurs deal with the restrictions imposed, and opportunities offered, by the Indonesian government's policy towards tourism in general and small-scale tourism developments in particular. After a brief analysis of national tourism policy and the employment opportunities in tourism, the article investigates the entrepreneurial strategies of two categories of petty entrepreneurs in Bali and Yogyakarta.