The Impact of Neoliberalism on Crisis Management in Bali’s Tourism Sector

Abstract

With the demise of sustainable tourism as a panacea for the community-level impacts of mass tourism, some scholars have) called for destination management and planning to re-focus on the politics behind tourism. In response, we examine tourism destination management from a political economy perspective to provide a contemporary understanding of tourism crises and inform what changes are required to achieve sustainable tourism. We do this by investigating of a well-known global tourism destination, Bali, using interviews and a survey. These indicate the extent to which neoliberal development policies in Indonesia’s tourism sector have intensified Bali’s susceptibility to crises and kept crisis management policies minimal, temporary and unable to respond effectively. While the obvious argument is that tourism planning at all levels needs to be more cognisant of the sector’s vulnerability to crisis, neoliberal development doctrine inhibits engagement with crisis and its impacts on society, which was demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic.