Designing pathways towards sustainable tourism in Soka Tourism Bali: A MULTIPOL policy analysis

Sustainable tourism is known as an effort to prevent the negative impacts of tourism development by considering economic, social and environmental aspects. Sustainable tourism development is very important to be used as a reference in managing tourism destinations. The large tourism potential in the Bali Province has been inventoried by the Provincial Government of Bali by establishing a tourism area. However, in its development, several designated tourism areas cannot develop optimally and tend to experience a decrease in the quality and quantity of tourist visits. This paper presents transformation pathways toward sustainable tourism development in tourism areas. The general objective is to determine strategies that can be pursued in the development of tourism areas. The specific objective is to develop the best policies and scenarios in the development of tourism areas. This research was conducted in the Soka Tourism Area in Bali Province, Indonesia, which is the only strategic tourism area in Tabanan Regency, which has great potential but has not been able to develop optimally. The data obtained from the focus group discussion, as a data collection method will be analyzed using the MULTIPOL method. The results of the research show that the development of sustainable tourism areas can be carried out by preparing a clear and measurable framework. Promotion, preparation of cross-sector programs and tourism management training activities are needed as priority programs. On the policy, it is necessary to carry out effective planning as an optimal policy involving all stakeholders. In addition, the “Progressive Transformation” and “Integrated Transformation” scenarios can be considered to achieve sustainable tourism development. This study can be an important input for stakeholders in determining policies for the development of tourism areas in the research locations and can be applied in other areas that have similar characteristics.