How can communities better prepare for future disasters? Learning from the tourism community resilience model from Bali, Indonesia

Abstract

Purpose

The impact of COVID-19 on tourism destinations has been severe, but a future crisis is never far away. How communities can better prepare for disasters to come in the near future continues to be researched. This research aims to understand the tourism community’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and present the Tourism Community Resilience Model as a useful instrument to help communities better respond to disasters in the future.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses a qualitative research approach which seeks to understand phenomena, events, social activities, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and individual and group opinions that are dynamic in character in accordance with the situation in the field. Research primary data is in the form of Kuta Traditional Village local community responses in enduring the COVID-19 pandemic conducted between January and May 2022. These data were obtained through in-depth observations and interviews involving informants based on purposive sampling, including traditional community leaders, village officials, tourism actors (i.e. street vendors, tourist local guides, taxi drivers and art workers) and tourism community members. We selected the informants who are not only directly impacted by the pandemic, but also some of them have to survive during the pandemic because they do not have other job options. The results of previous research and government data concerning the pandemic and community resilience were needed as secondary data, which were obtained through a study of the literature. The data which had been obtained were further analysed based on the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) technique, which seeks to make meaning of something from the participants’ perspective and the researchers’ perspective as a result there occurs a cognition of a central position.

Findings

Based on findings from Bali, Indonesia, this resilience model for the tourism community was created in response to the difficulties and fortitude shown by the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. It comprises four key elements, namely the Local Wisdom Foundation, Resource Management, Government Contributions and External Community Support. These elements are all rooted in the concepts of niskala (spirituality) and sekala (real response); it is these elements that give the tourism community in the Kuta Traditional Village a unique approach, which can inspire other tourism destinations in other countries around the world.

Research limitations/implications

A tourism community resilience model based on local community responses has implications for the process of enriching academic research and community management practices in facing future crisis, particularly by involving local wisdom foundation.

Practical implications

A tourism community resilience model based on local community responses has implications for the process of enriching academic research and community management practices in facing future crisis, particularly by involving local wisdom foundation.

Social implications

The existence of the resilience model strengthens local community social cohesion, which has been made stronger by the bonds of culture and shared faith in facing disaster. This social cohesion then stimulates the strength of sustainable and long-term community collaboration in the post-pandemic period. For tourism businesses, having strong connections with the local communities is an important condition to thrive.

Originality/value

The value of this research is the Tourism Resilience Community Model, which is a helpful tool to optimise and improve future strategies for dealing with disasters. Illustrated by this Balinese example, this paper emphasises the importance of adding social factors such as niskala and sekala to existing community resilience models. Addressing these local characteristics is the innovative aspect of this paper and will help inspire communities around the world to prepare for future disasters better and build more sustainable and resilient tourism destinations elsewhere.

Citation

Praptika, I.P.G.E., Yusuf, M. and Heslinga, J.H. (2024), "How can communities better prepare for future disasters? Learning from the tourism community resilience model from Bali, Indonesia", Journal of Tourism Futures, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-04-2023-0092

Introduction

Bali is one of the most renown tourism destinations in the world, but the tourism sector here has also faced various types of disasters from the 1970s to the present (2022). In the last 2 decades, there have been at least three disasters which have significantly impacted tourism activities in Bali. These three disasters are the Bali I and II Bombings which occurred in 2002 and 2005, the Mount Agung eruption disaster in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022, which is still classified as a pandemic. Although Bali had experienced other disasters, the resulting impact was not as severe as the COVID-19 pandemic (van Leeuwen et al., 2020). This raises questions as to the extent Bali’s community is capable of adsorbing these kinds of disasters and also its resilience into the future.

This paper specifically aims to develop a community-based resilience model, examining the Kuta Traditional Village, located in the Kuta District, Badung Regency, which has become the heart of the Bali tourism industry. The people of the Kuta Village predominantly work in the trade sectors, which numbers 3,361 people and the service sector or public services, which has 3,267 people (Badung Regency Central Bureau Statistics, 2021). These sectors are in fact associated with the tourism industries, represented in accommodation services, transportation, beauty salons, restaurants and so on. As can be seen in Figure 1 below, the image of the Kuta Traditional Village Area shows that community land use is predominantly community settlements, accommodation and tourism amenities.

The COVID-19 pandemic paralysed the Balinese tourist economy, which can be seen in the significant decline of Bali’s economy from 2020 to the beginning of 2022. At the time of the pandemic in 2020 the economic decline was minus 16.52% (year-on-year). This was caused by Badung Regency being almost 95% dependant on the tourism sector which, it needs to be noted, is centred on the Kuta Traditional Village and Bali (Primananda et al., 2022). Tourist visits to Kuta Traditional Village declined significantly for almost three years from 2020 to 2022. The decline reached 99%, especially in the main tourist sites like Kuta Beach and Legian Street. The COVID pandemic showed that Bali is highly dependent on international tourism and was impacted severely.

This economic impact, caused by the significant decline in tourist visits to the Kuta Traditional Village, led to several tourism sector businesses becoming bankrupt and workers being made redundant. The level of layoffs for those who worked in the tourism sector in the Kuta Traditional Village reached 95% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, this led to several indirect societal problems such as security. This became a crucial issue during the pandemic at the Kuta Traditional Village. Because of increasing unemployment, as a consequence of the paralysis of the tourism sector, it indirectly led to an increase in criminal activity.

As a business sector with limited capital, the tourism community is certainly very vulnerable to disasters and external crises as a result the process of recovery tends to be dynamic and full of challenges for a community’s resilience (Rindrasih, 2018). To be better prepared for a future crisis hitting the tourism sector, the community’s resilience becomes crucial for business in the tourism sector. Reflecting on the recovery process leading to the tourism community’s resilience at the time of the terrorism crisis in Kuta, has the potential to be also implemented in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic disaster.

Literature review

The concept of resilience

In general, resilience is understood as a concept which represents an ability to quickly recover from a difficult situation which has been experienced (Islam et al., 2020; Alarcon et al., 2019). Resilience places emphasis on the community’s ability to adapt after a traumatic event has occurred (Lwin et al., 2020; Saja et al., 2021; Linkov and Trump, 2019). Several studies have shown that resilience models contribute to the consideration and planning of recovery actions when facing a threat (Gabriel-Campos et al., 2021; Koliou et al., 2018; Rendon et al., 2021). Lew et al. (2016) describe resilience as a media to avoid and mitigate the occurrence of changes which pose a threat. From another viewpoint, Caceres-Feria et al. (2021), Cheer et al. (2021), Heslinga et al. (2020) and Heslinga et al. (2017) state that resilience does not mean opposing change, but managing the impacts of change to be in accord with needs and wishes.

Essentially, there is no single definition of “resilience”, however, researchers understand it from the context in which it is used. Resilience can be correlated with individuals or family systems, organisations, to communities as the providers of meaning and executors in accordance with their requirements. Holladay and Powell (2013) explain that resilience reflects man’s ability to use various opportunities and available resources to manage economic, social and environmental continuity for the long term. In this paper, the context for understanding resilience is communities that are dependent on tourism.

Resilience within tourism community

Several studies show that resilience in tourism community is the community’s ability to be prepared, to respond and recover from disasters while minimising its negative effects in the future (Prayag, 2023; Yang et al., 2021; Cutter et al., 2014). Community resilience clearly is not limited to recovery steps, but focuses on the processes before, during and after the disaster which leads to the sustaining of the community (Lam et al., 2016). In this regard the community can be understood through a perspective of being a process, a dynamic system of humans adapting to changes and the developing of abilities within an environment to keeping living.

To strengthen the analysis of community resilience in a tourism community, this research specifically refers to the Community Resilience model promoted by Bec et al. (2019). This model shown in Plate 1 below focuses on community resilience to changing conditions and local community systems in the long term. This resilience model, which contains four main aspects, can be used to predict and design an adaptive approach that ensures the sustainability of community resilience in tourism areas. According to Prayag (2023) and Gillespie-Marthaler et al. (2019), the use of a resilience model is suitable for evaluating a community’s ability to cope with and bounce back from disasters.

Bec et al. (2019) has proposed four aspects within community-based resilience, namely diversification, resources access, collaboration and planning and communication as indicated in Figure 2. Emerging research has explored the relationship between spirituality and community resilience to withstand and recover from adversity. Spirituality is mostly regarded as a personal source of meaning and purpose in life, a connection with ultimate concerns and potentially sources of power for resilience (Jabbari et al., 2023; Dreyer, 2014; Griffith and Elliott Griffith, 2002). Griffith (2010) revealed that personal spirituality often becomes a bulwark, protecting the emotional and physical survival of those who suffer. However, there is limited studies on resilience that deeply explores the importance of spiritual aspects within the tourism community. This paper, particularly explores how do spiritual values understood and practiced by community, in addition to the existing aspects proposed by previous studies, will help community better formulate resilience.

Methodology

This research uses a qualitative research approach which seeks to understand phenomena, events, social activities, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, individual and group opinions which is dynamic in character in accordance with the situation in the field. Research primary data comprises Kuta Traditional Village local community responses in living through the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews were conducted between January to May 2022. This data was obtained through in-depth observations and interviews. There were fifteen informants who were selected based on purposive sampling, including traditional community leaders, village officials, tourism actors (i.e. street vendors, tourist local guide, taxi drivers and art workers) and tourism community members. We selected the informants who are not only directly impacted by the pandemic, but also those who had to survive during the pandemic because they did not have other job options. The results of previous research and government data concerning the pandemic and community resilience was used as secondary data obtained through a study of the literature.

The data which had been obtained was further analysed based on the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) technique. IPA analytical technique seeks to make meaning of something from the participants’ perspective and the researchers’ perspective as a result there occurs a cognition of a central position (Bayir and dan Lomas, 2016). Based on this data analysis methodology, the tourism community resilience model was developed by reflecting on the empirical situation of Kuta Traditional Village local community in surviving and responding to disasters. Interview results are analysed and coded by systematically categorising themes and patterns presented in Table 1 to gain a deep and contextually rich understanding of individuals' lived experiences. The indicators to develop the community tourism resilience model was then able to be formed based on the primary data findings and a synthesis of the literature. In particular, three steps of data analysis were conducted. First, we decided themes and sub-themes referring to the focus of the research, namely: disaster impact, community interpretation towards disaster and community resilience responding to disaster; second, we operationalised the sub-themes into codes – i.e. economic downturn, decrease in income, termination of the employment relationship, etc. – third, we grouped interviews relevant to each code.

Results

• 1. Kuta traditional village tourism community responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

The Kuta Traditional Village tourism community responded to the COVID-19 pandemic based on aspects of niskala (invisible nature) and sekala (visible nature). For people in Kuta, COVID-19 pandemic should be responded from both invisible and visible aspects. The niskala can be translated as “spirituality response”. It is spiritual attitudes rooted in local wisdom and community religious values. Within the spiritual concept of niskala, the Kuta Traditional Village responded to the disaster as a differing duality but interconnected. This duality is called Rwa Bhineda. Rwa means “two” and Bhineda means “different” as a result Rwa Bhineda are two things which are different in life but accompany each other. In this context, Rwa Bhineda encompasses the coexistence of day and night, sorrow and joy, old age and youth, north and south directions, positive and negative polarities, as well as particles like protons and electrons. These examples encapsulate the essence of Rwa Bhineda, serving as the fundamental principle underpinning the equilibrium within the cosmic structure. In several resilience studies about a crisis in the tourism sector, the crisis is considered to have only made a negative impact, causing damage to the community situation (Yang et al., 2021).

The disaster was seen as a part of life which cannot be avoided. There is good and bad, black and white, the concept of Rwa Bhineda, is it not in life, which continually revolves. Sometimes we are on top, sometimes we also fall to the bottom. The words of an informant, part of the Kuta Traditional Village and a tourism worker.

Based on spirituality through niskala, every individual makes offerings called Segehan Nasi Wong-Wongan, which can be translated as rice shaped like a human, as seen in Plate 1. The offering is perceived as creating a spirit of harmony with the universe and the awakening of individuals, families as well as communities to face the nature of darkness and adversity during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

At the level of community, a ritual is carried out called Nangluk Merana (literally means neutralise the disaster) (see Plate 2), which aims to protect humans and nature from threats of disease or disaster through sincere offerings to God Almighty. This spiritual ritual is conducted at the temple where the prayer is held, at the village crossroads, to Kuta Beach.

From the view point of the spiritual values and ritual practices of the community pandemic is not necessarily considered as having purely negative impacts. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic is perceived positively as a wisdom and a contemplative moment for self-reflection in the community regarding the essence of human life in this universe. Therefore, as mentioned by our informant that during this pandemic disaster, many people have become more grateful for the life given by God. This community believes that a pandemic is God’s creation that must be faced with the spirit of the same destiny.

Further, the response within sekala, meaning “real response” and is a realisation of the niskala spirituality in the form of action. Further, the response within sekala, representing the visible or tangible response, is a manifestation of the niskala, which denotes the spiritual or invisible response that materialises into action. The sekala response is closely related to economic, social-cultural responses to management systems. The experience in facing and recovering from the Bali Bomb tragedy it appears provided the Kuta Traditional Village community a foundation to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consonant with this, Bec et al. (2019) states that community resilience is underpinned by the community’s ability to use its resources to adapt to change. This effort was also made by the Kuta Traditional village tourist community.

Apart from this, the Kuta Traditional Village tourism community responded to the pandemic in various other ways, as a consequence of using all its savings and debts for economic needs. These included changing employment, selling assets cheaply, trying to innovate in the tourism sphere, initiating recovery activities and, to giving community responses to government policy as indicated in Plate 3 below. Taking on debt was one of the responses chosen by the community although according to Narman dan Serpil (2019) incurring debt in a crisis period carries a very high risk of defaulting. Then, assets owned by the community such as land and vehicles to buildings, with a heavy heart, were sold cheaply so as to sell quickly. This response was made so as to keeping surviving, to meet everyday family expenses to children’s education costs.

At that time, to survive during the pandemic, I still had what is called savings but shortly after these savings were gone, and whether I wanted to or not I had to take on debt, yes because of living costs and the pandemic which also had no end. Information from a tourism worker.

Changing to other work outside of the tourism sector was another form of response from the community at the Kuta Traditional Village during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kuta Traditional Village tourism worker community tried to change to various other types of work such as: becoming fishers, running culinary businesses, being livestock farmers, snack food producers, online motorcycle taxi drivers, religious ritual facilities producers’ construction labourers and domestic assistants.

The response of changing employment, made by the tourism worker community in the Kuta Traditional Village during the COVID-19 pandemic, did not last long and was not sustainable. This was affected by a number of factors such as competition, buying power and community experience in new work. Fierce competition was brought about by the large numbers from communities who changed to work in the same fields such as food preparation or fishing. The community’s buying power, which was less than optimal, as a result of the economic downturn during the pandemic, also contributed to impediments to changing employment. Moreover, the community’s minimal experience in the new work added its own challenges to survive and develop. The specifics are examined, based on informant information from elements of tourism workers in various fields as follows:

In fact, I have also tried various businesses, selling food lasted for six months, but the profit was only 500,000 rupiah, it was all consumed in the cooking. Because yes, indeed the selling of cuisine, the process is long, in fact years so as to get known. Yes, so in the end we closed up. Tourism worker informant’s words from Kuta Traditional Village.

Efforts had been made for the establishment of health protocol support facilities at each tourist attraction and accommodation at Kuta Traditional Village. In similar fashion, for the operating of restaurants that only provided a takeaway service to regulations for mask wearing, checking of body temperature, social distancing and on site washing of hands for food services. Health facilities in particular, places for hand washing and also vaccination scanning had been provided at each entry point to Kuta Beach. Similar efforts were also made by tourist accommodation businesses such as hotels, bungalows, to homestays. Hoteliers in Kuta had applied COVID-19 pandemic prevention health protocol standards at each facility on offer as indicated in Plate 4 below.

Those involved in cultural arts in particular, traditional artists in Kuta Traditional Village who depended for most of their income or as a side job in tourism arts work responded to this new normal order. The holding of a cultural performance was usually limited to 25%–50% maximum capacity of the building or stage for artists and the audience. Those appearing and watching also had to use a mask, face shield and were socially distanced when seated.Plate 4

The community’s resilience challenges occur when the community must face external pressures produced by social, political and environmental changes (Kristiana et al., 2021). The Kuta Traditional Village tourism community, which tends to rely on external support from tourists, in particular international tourists, could not hope for much due to pandemic restrictions. World political and social conditions, were also in turbulence in adjusting to the developing pandemic (Sun et al., 2021), becoming an external pressure impeding the dynamics of tourism in the Kuta region.

Further, the Kuta Traditional Community Villages community response can be correlated to the research variables in Table 2 as the analytical reference. The research variables are the results of a synthesis of a literary review which captures various aspects, variables and indicators connected to tourism community resilience. The references, among others, include a study by Uriarte (2010, 2013), Bec et al. (2019) and Gabriel-Campos et al. (2021). Based on these variables, tourism community resilience can be studied through the responses given by the Kuta Traditional Village community in facing the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 2. Kuta traditional village tourism community resilience

Commencing with a community spirit to make one’s peace with the disaster as COVID-19 pandemic, this paper presents a tourism community resilience model (see Figure 3 below). This model is described as a rotating wheel containing three layers and one core. The outermost layer is the local value, namely niskala and sekala which are the basis of this model. The second layer consists of aspects of the foundation of local wisdom, resource management, government contributions and external community support which represent the spirit of niskala and sekala. The third layer is a breakdown of the components found and needed in the Kuta Traditional Village tourism community extracted from these four aspects. The core part of the model is the resilience of the tourism community as an ideal goal to be achieved in the long term in addition to sustainability. The resilience model formed is not only oriented to resiliency, as in Gurtner’s study (2016), but is also a strategy to quickly recover. The recovery process post-Bali Bomb tragedy has become the foundation for the construction of this writer’s model. This writer’s resiliency model seeks to integrate aspects which are wider and more complex than just the community’s own situation. This is found in other resilience models which focus on social and cultural ties and community skills and educational capacity (Uriarte, 2013; Gillespie-Marthaler et al., 2019).

• a. Foundation of local wisdom

The first foundation is the existence of local wisdom which covers spirituality and ritual as the underpinning of the Kuta Traditional Village community in living a good life as an individual and as a part of the traditional community unit. Spirituality is positioned as an awareness of the values of life, religion and culture which comes from within man. Spiritual elements in the Kuta Traditional Village local wisdom are reflected in the philosophical values of Rwa Bhineda. This philosophy guides the community to maintain inner calm, holism, connectivity, seeking, cosmological experience, peace, tolerance and other positive matters. Rituals specially conducted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic disaster and other disasters, include those making offerings. The conduct of a ritual is one means of realising natural balance and harmony, whose practice has been passed from generation to generation. Roberto et al. (2020) and Le et al. (2019) also confirmed that the value of spirituality can strengthen community resilience through hope, optimism, peace and controlling psychological and physical stress.

• b. The optimalisation of resource management

A further foundation in the resilience model is resource management which is a comprehensive orientation to long-term resource availability and resilience. This writer’s model seeks to push the optimalisation of four main resources consisting of human qualities, economic sustainability, social-cultural assets and environmental resilience. The quality of human resources, when facing a crisis, is shown by skills and knowledge preparation in the management of income diversification and harmony of social-cultural life among community members. Human resources must be prepared to anticipate and mitigate unexpected disasters while optimising various opportunities to manage economic, social and environmental sustainability for the long term (Zebrowski and Sage, 2016; Holladay and Powell, 2013). Then, the management of Village Credit Institutions (Lembaga Perkreditan Desa – LPD), which have the strength to face an economic crisis, must be done to determine the traditional community economic sustainability. The environmental resources also support the community’s life as the location of the family’s home and a place to conduct a system of culture, traditions and customs. The management of environmental resources must be based on evacuation routes mitigation access in a disaster.

• c. Consistency of government’s contribution

The government’s strategic contribution both at the regional level to the centre is vital to the development of the tourism community resilience model. The formulation of regulations which support the community’s ability to manoeuvre in developing tourism sector resilience must be implemented. Reflecting on the pattern of Kuta Traditional Village tourism recovery by conducting events on an international scale, the government must enable Kuta Traditional Village tourism’s recovery by facilitating the conduct of international events. In the context of the traditional community, regulations made by government should be consonant with community traditional order and as a result there is no overlapping of regulations. The government is positioned as a producer of all kinds of legal products, which are the reference for society in the state’s life (Chandranegara and Sihombing, 2021). Therefore, the government, from the central level to traditional villages should be involved in building community resilience in the tourism sectors, as reflected in Heslinga et al. (2019). The government should have a role in realising the support programs of disaster mitigation training, community economic diversification skills training and post-disaster recovery programs. In addition, the government also has a role as a facilitator which can reach out to third parties to make available these various programs.

• d. External community support

The external community has a strategic role in guaranteeing tourism community resilience. These external parties consist of tourists, media and investors. Kuta Traditional Village Tourism greatly relies on international tourism visits. Australian tourists are among the foreign tourists much anticipated by the Kuta Traditional Village community. This is related to the historical ties and loyalty of the Australian tourists to the Kuta Traditional Village community. International tourists are more dominant in their spending, length of stay and repetitive purchasing compared to national tourists.

Discussion

This paper was able to develop a community-based tourism resilience model retrieved from difficulties and fortitude shown by the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aforementioned model not only has confirmed to previous studies, but also has added innovative aspects, which is a helpful tool to optimise and improve future strategies for dealing with disasters. In particular, adding social factors such as niskala and sekala to existing community resilience models is the innovative aspect of this paper. These local characteristics are expected to help communities around the world prepare for future disasters better and build more sustainable and resilient tourism destinations.

Prayag (2023) underlines that resilience is considered across economic, ecological, social and institutional dimensions. The tourism community’s resilience is reflected in adaptation and economic resilience, socio-cultural conditions and management systems of a community in facing disasters (cf. Rendon et al., 2021). Based on economic aspects, through the first variable that is, access to economic resources, the Kuta Traditional village community is still able to access emergency funds. These emergency funds are sourced from central government assistance and special loans in the Kuta Traditional Village Credit Institution and work savings in the tourism sector. This financial capital is the community’s guarantee in the recovery period and post-disaster adaptation in a tourism destination (Hall et al., 2022). Prayag et al. (2018) also further affirm, emergency funds access can meet essential needs such as for food, clean water and a placed to stay.

The economic diversification variable shows that the community also possesses the opportunity to try to change professions as a replacement source of income for the tourism sector (Bec et al., 2019). The Kuta Traditional Village tourism changed to small scale culinary businesses, farming and animal husbandry to selling religious ritual paraphernalia. However, the reality of shifting work and sources of income in the face of heavy challenges in fact tended not to last long. This is caused by buying power falling in accompaniment with community economic downturn and the keenness of business competition in the community (Sari et al., 2022). Both Rindrasih (2018) and Heslinga et al. (2023) in their studies have revealed that the recovery of tourism from disaster is indeed dynamic and full of challenges.

The Kuta Traditional Village Community has a local cultural foundation which is consonant with collaboration and social communication within and outside of the community. The existence of a social identity in the form of a local wisdom belief system, customs, to cultural arts becomes the community’s guide in getting through the crisis (Wickes et al., 2017; Lwin et al., 2020). The principles of niskala and sekala, which have become the foundations of the Kuta Traditional Village in giving meaning to the COVID-19 pandemic, reflects local wisdom as a community spirit to keep enduring.

A spiritual attitude rooted in this local wisdom is the reason the Kuta Traditional Village tourism community survived the pandemic downturn for more than two years. Spirituality emerges as a crucial factor which strengthens man’s resilience through hope, optimism, peace and well-being (Roberto et al., 2020). Le et al. (2019) also reveal that spirituality gives support for the better control of physical and psychological stress in overcoming sickness or serious problems. A strong conviction in Hindu Balinese customs and local wisdom morally and spiritually strengthens Kuta Traditional Village community in trying to “be at peace with the pandemic”. Being at peace with the pandemic can be interpreted as an attitude of accepting the reality of what has occurred. Accepting though does not mean resignation and keeping quiet, but it is an attitude of physical and spiritual self-control.

Several efforts outside of tourism reflect the community’s efforts to diversify the economy (Kristiana et al., 2021). However, the results tended to be negligible when compared to tourist sector income. These results show the efforts toward economic diversification are yet to become stable and consistent as hoped for by the community. The reality reflects that the management of environmental, cultural, social and economic local resources is yet to be optimised from the perspective of knowledge and skills. If economic diversification is not realised holistically, it has the potential to create a deeper, long-term downturn in various aspects of life (Mazzola et al., 2019). Businesses are an integral part of society and communities, but are often focussed on the economic aspects of, but social-cultural aspects are often overlooked.

Sheppard and Williams (2016) affirm that the mitigation focus for the tourism crisis can be in the form of financial management and socio-cultural cooperation from the family to the village environment. But a specific program related to crisis mitigation in the tourism sector is yet to be undertaken intensively and continuously by the Kuta Traditional Village tourism community which tends to act on its own. The government should focus on crisis mitigation programs which have community skills intensive training in facing the long- and short-term disasters. It is these ideal conditions which are yet to be enacted in the Kuta Traditional Village in facing the pandemic downturn.

Conclusion and recommendations

This research has sought to understand how the Kuta Traditional Village local community has given meaning to and responded to COVID-19 and further developed a tourism community resilience model for coping with future disasters and provides inspiration for other destination to learn from. The community resilience model in the tourism sector has become a strategic instrument to optimise the tourism recovery process in the Kuta Traditional Village during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, tourists tended to choose resilient tourism destinations as something which mutually benefited the local people’s well-being and tourism experience (Hassan and Soliman, 2021). The experience of the Kuta Traditional Village community from the Bali Bombing became one of the foundations to create a pattern of resilience in facing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The response of the Kuta Traditional Village community to the COVID-19 pandemic commenced with using all their savings and taking on debt for economic needs, being forced to change jobs, selling assets, attempting to innovate in the tourism field, initiating tourism recovery activities, to community responses to government policies. The social-cultural aspects of community resilience in the Kuta Traditional Village played a significant role in and was able to prop up the limitations in the economic aspects. The Kuta Traditional Village community had a local philosophical foundation Rwa Bhineda which influenced the community to accept and be at peace with the disaster. Acceptance does not mean being resigned to being quiet, but an attitude of spiritual and physical self-control to get through the difficult periods. It was this which became the Kuta Traditional Village community’s capital as a result it could be deconstructed as a tourism community resilience model.

This resilience model was formed based on the tourism community’s challenges and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The tourism community resilience model has four main aspects comprising Local Wisdom Foundation, Resource Management, Government Contributions and External Community Support. All of these aspects were underpinned by niskala (“spirituality”) and sekala (“real response”) which became the special characteristic of the Kuta Traditional Village tourism community’s response compared with communities at other destinations in the world.

It is these aspects of the tourism community resilience model that are highly relevant for other countries in the world, as they can inspire tourism communities in other tourism destinations elsewhere in the world to improve their way of responding. This is because it argues for more than just economic aspects of resilience, but also stresses the importance of cultural and spiritual aspects found in tourism community resilience. In many destinations around the globe, these aspects are overlooked or not considered to be of importance, while this paper showed that they are actually crucial elements. These local characteristics illustrated by the Balinese example help other communities around the world prepare for future disasters better and build more sustainable and resilient tourism destinations.

Nevertheless, the scope of the research, which has been focused on the traditional village community, can still be developed by widening the scope of the resilience model which has been developed. This research has not included the perspectives of tourists and tourism industry in responding to a disaster. This limitation can be addressed in a further study to understand the tourism market that is, the tourist as well as business sectors, when faced with a disaster in the tourism sector. In addition, a similar research approach can be applied to the tourism community in another region outside the Kuta Traditional Village.

Figures

Figure 1

The land use map of Kuta traditional village

Figure 2

Community resilience model

Plate 1

Offering of segehan nasi wong-wongan

Plate 2

Nangluk merana ritual

Plate 3

Community building assets sold cheaply

Plate 4

New normal health protocol at tourism accommodation

Figure 3

Tourism community resilience model

Table 1

Coding themes

Themes	Sub-themes	Codes	Quotes
Disaster Impact	Economic	Economic downturn	The global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, evident in Kuta-Bali’s extended restaurant closures and economic challenges exacerbated by past bombings, reflects a broader struggle with prolonged restrictions and setbacks in the tourism sector
		Decrease in income	The sustained economic challenges of the pandemic and the aftermath of past incidents have resulted in decreased income for seasoned figures in the tourism industry like myself, exacerbated by the absence of local and international tourists
		Termination of the employment relationship	The interconnected economic challenges faced by individuals, particularly in the performing arts sector, during the pandemic. Layoffs, financial constraints, and significant price drops, such as the reduced value of essential goods like fried rice, exemplify the widespread economic losses experienced by many
		Business bankruptcy	The pandemic severely impacted Kuta’s economy, leading to hotel closures due to heavy reliance on tourism. It also underscored personal struggles, such as selling assets for basic needs, reflecting broader economic challenges in the community
	Socio-cultural and political	Changes in people’s behaviour	Amid the pandemic, religious activities transformed with discreet events and emerging creativity due to boredom. The lively atmosphere of the past has shifted, and there is a trend of avoiding late-night outings due to concerns about darkness by 8 o’clock
		Threats to local cultural practices	Cultural events, halted for two years during the pandemic, are slowly resuming at hotels with reduced intensity and talent absorption. A government circular in March 2020 during ‘Nyepi’ restricted traditional ceremonies, prompting contemplation on the imposed distance, even in matters related to God
		Social tension	In the wake of prolonged isolation from customs and art, people rebel against rules out of boredom, contributing to increased crime incidents, including pickpocketing. The pandemic also brings about social tensions, with debates and conflicts within indigenous communities escalating to involve law enforcement
		Change in the political system	The regulatory landscape for artistic activities is dynamic, marked by numerous prohibitions during the pandemic, although there are signs of easing restrictions
	Environment and regional planning	Environmental quality	The pandemic has left facilities like the swimming pool neglected due to financial constraints. The aftermath of the Bali bomb explosion caused significant damage to homes, and many bungalow rooms and homestays required repairs
		Environmental arrangement	During the pandemic, it feels difficult to organise the village environment so that it is as clean and as good as before the pandemic
Community Interpretation towards Disaster	Socio-cultural and religiosity	Disaster as a blessing	Kuta, once a bustling tourism hub, now needs to address economic challenges. Inspired by “blessings in disguise,” akin to Japan’s creative response to snow, the community sees challenges like waste on Kuta Beach as opportunities for transformation, aiming to repurpose organic waste into crafts and installations
		Disaster as an adversity	People of Kuta and Bali have faced profound challenges from events like the Bali Bombings in 2002 and 2005, along with the unprecedented difficulties brought by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Adapting to the pandemic’s effects is seen as an inherent aspect of life, requiring navigation through highs and challenges
		Encouraging feelings of love	Embracing mutual respect and shared activities amid past tragedies and the ongoing pandemic is essential. Maintaining a divine connection and cultivating gratitude serve as reminders in these challenging times
Community Resilience Responding to Disasters	Economic	Survive in the tourism industry	A former hotel now offers budget boarding, restaurants shifted to local tastes, and Kuta, with its unique features, holds untapped tourism potential. To revive the area, shophouse owners are encouraged to open for even a few tourists
		Strive to diversify jobs	Foreign residents in Kuta returned to villages; some tried culinary ventures without success, and one person returned to farming in South Denpasar. Another individual explored various businesses, including incense-making, but faced challenges due to low purchasing power in the community
		Financial access	The individual encountered economic challenges during the pandemic. They sold their vehicle for capital and savings in a local credit institution, which was crucial for a year, and faced difficulties as the institution neared bankruptcy, complicating withdrawals
		Public facilities access	Fortunately, there is continued access to hospitals, markets, and children’s schools during the pandemic, with various methods ensuring their operational continuity
		Training and education access	The provincial government has introduced virtual art events in response to the pandemic, offering artists technological adaptation training. Key programs like Kuta Karnival and BEDO involve collaborations with external businesses in Kuta, emphasising education on product exportation and distribution
	Socio-cultural	Performing arts and customs	In the tourism recovery, a commitment is made to give artists more space, aligning with ethical considerations. Emphasising the impact of cultural events like the Kuta Carnival and the contributions of maestro Lotring, leveraging foundational cultural arts is seen as crucial for reviving tourism
		Communication and collaboration	Established six months after the Bali bombings, the Kuta Small Business Association, encompassing hotels, restaurants, garment shops, and the surf industry, collaborates to revitalise Bali through communication and support. The association draws inspiration from the swift post-Bali bombings recovery driven by global sympathy. The community encourages active participation in tourism recovery, irrespective of local ID cards, reminiscent of the post-Bali bombings period
		Strength-based on local wisdom and religious rituals	The Kuta cultural-arts community plans a revival through the Kuta Art Festival, fostering local cooperation (menyama braya). Adhering to the Fisherman’s Philosophy, Kuta’s coastal residents stay engaged, treating the pandemic with collective spiritual activities and rituals, including the Nangluk Merana ceremony, symbolising unity and resilience
	Governance dimensions	Regulation and economic recovery planning	The community proposes recovery ideas to key officials for Bali’s revival after the bombings. Collaborating with Kuta Traditional Village, activities like the Kuta Carnival prove successful when media management, as seen in post-Bali bombings, plays a vital role. However, the government’s recovery program lacks clarity and direct involvement for small economic actors
		Mitigate the health and environmental impacts	Foreigners, workers, and tourists are expected to have skills and provide a deposit, with workplaces accountable under awig-awig rules, emphasising responsibility for culture and the environment. Ongoing government monitoring and preventive measures are crucial for addressing virus concerns and safeguarding public and tourist health

Source(s): Authors' construction

Table 2

Findings related to tourism community resilience variables

Aspect	Variable	Indicator	Finding
Economic	Access to resources	Able to access emergency funds to managed the COVID-19 pandemic in the short term	Financial access is limited to the amount of the community’s savings and bank loans
		Able to meet essential needs (food, sources of clean water, accommodation)	Essential needs can still be met
		Able to access public or private facilities services (health, education, security, insurance)	Some aspects such as insurance do not assume a priority because of the cost
	Economic diversification	Having an economic/source of income and a varied workforce	The diversification of various professions had been tried by most of the community, although it was it was relatively difficult to last in a new profession outside tourism
		Having an opportunity for education, training, and work skills study in a sector outside tourism	In essence, this opportunity already exists and is supported by the government, its realisation needs a sacrificing of materials to ideas
Cultural-Societal Aspects	A local cultural foundation	Having local wisdom which becomes the guidance for community living	The Bali local philosophy of Rwa Bhineda, Tat Twam Asi, to art and customs becomes the basis of community living, including visitors who respect the existence of these rules based on customs
		The belief and implementation of local wisdom in responding to the pandemic	Efforts to implement local traditions during the pandemic was done by adjusting the numbers in the community who were involved. The ceremonies of Melasti, Nangluk Merana as a complete purification/cleansing to offering Segehan Nasi Wong-wongan in families (house)
		The existence of local wisdom can give motivation/spirit in facing the pandemic	A strong belief in local Hindu Balinese local wisdom and customs can strengthen the community morally and spiritually to keep on enduring
	Collaboration and Social Communication	Having leaders who adapt quickly to the pandemic disaster	Customary leaders (Jero Bendesa Adat) to official leaders of the Kuta district coordinated effectively with the regional government in the adaptation of policies during the pandemic
		Having leaders who are resolute and cooperate effectively	Cooperation between the community and the government is facilitated and coordinated by Kuta Traditional Village leaders
		Comprises community leaders who support and help each other	The Kuta Traditional Village comprises 13 Banjar (smaller village units) working shoulder to shoulder to keep going during the pandemic, supporting each other’s businesses and exchanging solutions
		Comprises community members who trust each other	Community members are bound to and trust Kuta Customary guidance
		Cooperating effectively both covering the community internally and externally	Traditional community internal cooperation and collaboration with external agencies such as regional government and the private sector was implemented, but not optimally
		The systematic distribution of information concerning the pandemic which affects the community	Access to information concerning the pandemic occurred relatively quickly and easily based on the internet and social media
Management System	Economic recovering planning	Developing planning through structured analysis and coordination with a regular and academic	Recovery planning was coordinated from the customary village level to the regional government
		Having a medium to long-term economic recovery plan	A local event implementation plan to stimulate the local economy, was frequently impeded by policy restrictions
		Participating in risk and vulnerability planning due to the pandemic	The community participates in accord with its role and structure in the traditional village by minimising serious health and economic risks as a consequence of the economy
		Having a long-term plan for the recovery of the tourism sector	A plan to open international tourism borders and the conduct of large-scale events, reflecting on the post-Bali bombing Kuta Carnival
		The integration and distribution of knowledge among stakeholders	Stakeholders both at the traditional village level to government level often held differing opinions in relation to responses to the pandemic. There were those who more disposed to a relaxation of tourist activities and those who were to the contrary
	The strengthening of community resilience	Long-term adaptive strategic innovation and strengthening of the tourism industry in facing the pandemic	There were community expectations for tourism sector innovation which was stronger but there was no common ground on its form and realisation
		A diversified, community economic strengthening program	An entrepreneur or small to medium enterprise program which relied on the local community economy was made active for economic diversification. But the tourism market share dominates the Kuta community economy
		Adaptation of management and cultural, social economic resources development, and a strong environment	Financial management from the family level to the traditional village needs to be focussed upon. Remembering that during the pandemic financial institutions were impacted and the community could not withdraw cash or apply for a loan. Cultural social cohesion also needs to be considered to make harmonious conflict, tension/differences of opinion in the community
		Preparedness in mitigation when a pandemic or disaster, loss and danger occur	During the pandemic, the Kuta community to be unprepared in disaster or crisis mitigations as a consequence main economic sector collapsed
		Community skills intensive training program for the short to long term for facing disasters	Specific programs, connected to disaster mitigation in the tourism sector, have yet to be undertaken intensively, be integrated, and sustainable based on community realities which tend to take its own direction

Source(s): Authors' construction