TOURISM PRACTITIONERS’ CAPABILITIES IN COPING WITH HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIC CRISIS POST LOMBOK EARTHQUAKE, AUGUST 5, 2018, ANALYZED THROUGH SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

Abstract

Earthquake is one of natural-induced crisis which could cause catastrophes, destructions and loss towards tourism industry and its practitioners. In fact, Lombok earthquake with 7.0 SR (Scala Richter) on August 5, 2018 triggered a huge loss for the inhabitants of North Lombok Regency. As tourism as one of main economic sectors in this region, this catastrophe was inevitably experienced by the people earning the living in the tourism sector. The disaster resulted in the fatalities of hundreds of people and destructions of thousands of the buildings lead to the significantly decreasing number of visitors visiting the tourism destinations in this region. Consequently, this automatically resulted in the decline in the income of tourism industries forcing them to manage the financial condition during the crisis by firing non-permanent workers and cutting the working hours as well as the wages of permanent workers. As part of affected people, the local inhabitants working in the tourism industry with the salary cut off need to find the shortcut and the way out to cope with the economic crisis within their household sphere in order to meet their families’ daily needs. This qualitative research reveals that socio-economic backgrounds of the informants closely influence their ability to cope with the crisis.