blue-voices

That morning, Tanjung Benoa Beach in the southern part of Bali looked calm. The sun is warm to touch the body. Ship engines started turning. Very noisy. Crowded people filled each side of the beach. The open space also feels crowded.
 
Tourists back and forth on the white sandy beach. Almost all of them are faces of foreign citizens. Her skin is white, her hair is rather red. Laughter never left their faces. Like most tourists, they also pose and express themselves to each other as cheerfully and then immortalized in camera shots.

In other places, some people are busy installing equipment on their bodies and preparing to try the existing waterspot. Starting from banana boat, flying fish, wave runner, parasailing, scuba diving, seawalker and others.

Between the boisterous beach and the tourists, several children ran around. About 7-10 years old. They ran to and fro. Not to play sand or enjoy the sea, but to bring a basket. Left hand holding basket so as not to fall when the sea breeze welcomes. His right hand holds beads in the form of a necklace and a bracelet.

With innocent faces and full of courage they offered the beads to visiting foreign tourists. However, none of the tourists bought it. Children who should only learn and play now must peddle their items one by one to tourists who vacation in their homeland, Bali.

Tanjung Benoa can be an example of how random the current Bali tourism management. Tourist transport vessels from Tanjung Benoa milling among other tourists who enjoy water attractions. At the same location there are also snorkeling and diving spots.

The number of tourists also seems out of control. Whatever is accepted. In fact, the carrying capacity of nature, especially the beach there must be a limit.

Tanjung Benoa, a favorite beach tourism location in Bali, might be a sign of Bali's overcrowding due to unsustainable tourism. In fact, tourism is the breath of the island of Bali. If the breath is short, then any activity will be hampered.

In the future, specifically for Bali, Signing Blue will increase the number of partnerships. Because in general, the tourism sector is considered to have a lot of attention to human resources owned, helped preserve culture and continue to provide services for tourists to the maximum.

Gerald, Signing Blue Corporate Engagement, said, although in terms of internal management it is already good, there are still important tasks in environmental management. Perpetrators of tourism in Bali are still less responsive to the importance of managing the environment. This is caused by many factors. One of them is local and foreign tourists who are overloaded.

This affects the difficulty of tourist supervision of environmental preservation. For example when diving on the island of Nusa Penida, they accidentally or intentionally do damage to coral reefs. In addition to the lack of knowledge of tourists about environmental conservation at sea, tourism actors also do not provide adequate education related to this matter. So that at one time, coral reefs which should be kept together, become permanently damaged at a certain period of time.

In addition to Nusa Penida Island, Kuta Beach is also one of the points in Bali that experiences over capacity and often occurs before sunset. The number of local and foreign tourists on the beach makes it difficult to control garbage disposal. "As a result, rubbish that is deliberately disposed of or left behind in the sand will be swept away by the waves and become marine trash," Gerald explained.

Signing Blue Will Continue To Add Members To The Tourism Industry Players

Signing Blue in this case moves to encourage tourism actors, the general public, and the traveler to be aware of protecting the marine tourism environment.

If they also have packages for diving and snorkeling, an implementation will be assessed in the field. For example when meeting with animals whether they have followed the correct rules by giving breafing to tourists before diving, because this is so fundamental to be done by members of Signing Blue who have diving packages.

All is done openly and through an assessor. In this case the assessor can be referred to as a third party conducting the assessment, whereas the WWF is only a reviewer. "When all elements needed to become a member of WWF have been fulfilled, it will be declared as a Signing Blue member," explained Gerald.

Assessor, Performance Evaluator for Signing Blue Members

Pariama Hutasoit as assessor of the Signing Blue program is a volunteer who cares about marine tourism in the country. Pariama wants to do more for the country, one of which is to make tourism practitioners concerned about the environment for the sustainability of his business.

According to Pariama, the task of an assessor is to assess the three indicators set. Including marine tourism included in the conservation of marine ecosystems. He said he wanted to encourage others to care about the surrounding environment. "Surely it is equipped with data and accurate evidence to make others join in protecting marine tourism together," he said.

Most Indonesians today often hear the word "Climate Change" or "Global Warming". This is because slowly the effects can already be felt and witnessed with our own eyes. The heat of the air during the day, a plague that runs rampant, to an increase in the average temperature of the marine atmosphere that causes damage to the marine ecosystem. Climate change itself is caused by a variety of human activities that are not environmentally friendly which uses fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil as the main ingredients. However, not many people are aware that in addition to global warming, marine activity also has a role in the destruction of marine ecosystems, especially coastal areas.

The rate of activities of the Indonesian marine industry is now increasing. We can easily find travel agents, trip organizers, and holiday service providers everywhere. Can be through the internet, travel brochures, to chain messages from mobile phones. According to the Ministry of Tourism (2016), for marine tourism destinations, Indonesia has 33 diving destinations and more than 400 operators. Of the many foreign exchange generated by marine tourism, as many as 60% of visitors do coastal tourism, 25% are nautical or motorized marine tours, and 15% underwater tourism such as snorkeling and giving.

The problem is, of the many tourism actors, many do not consider the ecological impact of the preservation of the archipelago's marine assets. Perpetrators of tourism here are service providers and visitors. In fact, there are domino effects on environmental, social, and economic aspects that occur if we are not wise when traveling. Destructive behavior for example when snorkeling / diving, coral reefs broken and damaged due to being trampled, held, and even intentionally broken for souvenirs for visitors. If not stopped, over time the underwater beauty filled with coral reefs will disappear and the value of these tourist sites will decrease dramatically. Domestic and foreign tourists will be lazy to visit. Tourist sites become quiet, local people lose their jobs. That is, the contribution of foreign exchange to the country is also reduced. the impact of extinction is threatening, and cannot be enjoyed directly by future generations.

Not to mention the trip organizer itself, which allows visitors to feed the fish with biscuits and bread that they have provided. Even so, fish can lose their hunting instinct and will return to the same place. In terms of accommodation, irresponsible behavior comes with disregard for energy and emissions savings. Hotel lights are left on during the day. The temperature of the air conditioner is set below 23 degrees Celsius, the air coming from the air conditioner also adds to the effect of global warming. There is also the amount of rubbish that is brought by visitors increases every year if it is not managed properly, for example by turning it into recycled objects or other handicrafts it will turn these tourist attractions into mounds of rubbish island. And many more.

Then, how to overcome it? We can begin to apply the pattern of marine tourism behavior that is environmentally responsible by minimizing waste production, socially responsible by respecting prevailing customs and responsible for the business of the local community. The "Signing Blue" program as one of the initiatives to help create marine tourism is responsible for issuing a series of guidelines for the Best Environmental Equitable Practices (BEEP). The guide can be downloaded via http://www.signingblue.com. Inside are information and tips on how to become a responsible tourist for the sustainability of Indonesian marine tourism. So, from now on we have to start changing our behavior for the sake of better Indonesian tourism.

Traveling to a place is not fun enough if you don't taste the culinary specialties and souvenirs of the region. But watch out! Do not let the goods / food that you consume come from endangered species even protected by the law! As tourists we must be wise in choosing, not to give a negative impact on the marine and surrounding ecosystems. Because by acting wisely, we can help the economy of the local community while minimizing the illegal trade in endangered animals. Let's look at some tips so that you become a wise traveler in shopping!

Look for as much information.

Gather information about the unique tourist sites that you will visit, be culinary, customs and culture, to the unique species that can only be found there.

Avoid consuming endangered marine animals and the length of the breeding process.

Don't eat fishery products made from marine species such as sharks, turtles, marine mammals, lobsters and groupers. This is because the species has a long time to regenerate, if we consume it means the amount of demand will increase, so that fishermen will look for more animals to meet market demand. Because the breeding time is very long, it may be that the fishermen caught are chicks that have not had time to produce eggs. How do fish not run out quickly?

Don't buy souvenirs made from marine species such as turtle shells, bahar roots, coral reefs, etc.

Even though they are dead, if you buy these items you can be misused by people who are not responsible. These people could have said that the merchandise they sell are made from dead sea turtle shells, even though he got it by catching and then killing the turtle to take the shell and make a souvenir for you. Better, look for a replica or buy another hand-made souvenir, find it safe!

Buy handicrafts from the local community.

By buying handicrafts from the local community, it means that you benefit and show appreciation for them. This action also triggers the community to improve the quality of their products. In addition, directly you also help move the economy of the local community to be more developed.

Bid reasonably.

As buyers we also have the right to bargain! Indeed, sometimes some typical souvenir sellers at tourist attractions offer prices that are not expensive. You have the right to bid on a human level. You can ask first how the manufacturing process can turn into beautiful souvenirs that are traded. That way, you can guess what a fair price is given from the results of hard work during the manufacturing process. In addition, you can also be more familiar with the seller, the possibility is given a greater discount. Yay!

Those are some tips that you can apply while on vacation later. Hopefully with the small steps you take, it can help preserve nature and improve the welfare of the local community. From now on, be a wise tourist in consuming every product produced from nature. Happy heart, nature is awake!

Traveling to beautiful places now is a growing trend among young people. Not just a holiday, with the presence of social media, makes everyone competing to show off their tourist excitement. Stylish in the middle of a vast meadow, taking pictures with the fish while snorkeling, until the most hits today are stylish models or candid photos against a backdrop of natural scenery or tourist attractions.

However, due to the excitement of uploading photos here and there sometimes we do not pay attention to behavior that can damage the beauty of tourist attractions. Mistakenly, our actions can reduce the attractiveness of these tourist attractions or even become bullied netizens as a result of the photos that you upload contain elements of vandalism! Maybe in 5-6 years when you return there, the beauty of the place is no longer the same. Don't let you be one of them! As tourists, we must be responsible for the environment, socio-culture, and also sustainable business management, so that tourism in these locations continues to run well and last long. Well, here are 8 (eight) tips that you can do to become a contemporary and responsible traveler.

Search for information on tourist locations that you will visit in as much detail as possible!

Before packing, we should first find out information about the places we will visit. Can be about special foods, culture, prohibitions, and any spots that we can use as material to be uploaded to social media. Later, you don't just show off, by adding important information to each photo, you have helped promote the potential of these tourist sites.

Follow the instructions of the guide, don't take selfies all the time!

Be an ethical traveler, no matter how often you go to the same tourist spot, keep respecting and paying attention to the guide who is giving instructions, especially regarding rules relating to security, safety, and local ethics. If you do not heed these directives, you can just drown in the sea, get lost in the forest, or even driven out of tourist sites! So pay attention, and do not take a selfie while being given directions!

Don't feed, chase, let alone ride the animals that you meet at tourist attractions

Taking pictures with the fish while snorkeling is fun, you can upload it to Instagram and get lots of likes on the photo. However, feeding animals in nature actually interferes with their native behavior. They will get used to waiting to be fed by tourist visitors by returning to the same place. If this habit continues, they will lose their hunting instincts as wild animals. Ride it

Turn off your camera flash when shooting animals.

Some animals are quite sensitive to light, for example when turtles give birth, when manta rays mate, and when close to whale sharks. Flash light on the camera can change the behavior of animals to be aggressive because they feel disturbed. Instead of getting pictures with the animals, you can actually be hurt by their tantrums.

Lower your voice in traditional places, in local settlements, and places that are used as traditional space

Vacation is one of the moments to have fun, but we must still pay attention to the surrounding environment. Don't laugh out loud and speak out loud when you are not in an open space. If tourist arrivals are felt to be quite disturbing, local people may become unfriendly to us, maybe even they will no longer allow their area of ​​residence to be used as a tourist location.

Do not litter!

Get used to storing trash if you don't find a trash can near you. Imagine if you threw away rubbish as you wish, besides ruining the view, if the rubbish was produced from many tourists, the next few years the place would be full of rubbish! Gone are the tourist attractions there, local people will lose income for everyday life. Besides, you don't want to have a pile of rubbish adorning your holiday photo frames?

Souvenirs for friends? Buy local handicrafts!

Do not take 'souvenirs' from the tourist sites that you visit, for example: rocks, plants, or shells of marine animals, especially in conditions still alive! Buy local handicrafts as souvenirs, and you can promote them through social media. If many are interested, they might be curious and want to come directly to the location to see firsthand how to make it and buy directly from the manufacturer. That way, you guys have helped the business and economic sustainability of the area in the tourist location!

When traveling to the beach, look for lodging, restaurants, recreational boats and trip organizers

The existence of the Covid-19 pandemic that has reached Indonesia makes tourism actors face a very formidable challange. Even so, all tour operators who are members of the Blue Allies do not forget their commitment to saving the environment. This was demonstrated by their participation in the Switch Off activity organized by Earth Hour 2020 on March 28, 2020 which was simultaneously carried out globally at 08.30 p.m to 09.30 p.m (local time).

Different from previous years, the implementation of Earth Hour this year, which carries the theme of "Raise Your Voice" is held in a different way which is through the activation of each online media as a suggessted social distancing effort. Also, tour operators take advantage of the time during Earth Hour to pray together hoping that the global pandemic will be over.

Highest appreciation for tourism actors who have participated in energy savings and various environmental activities that have been carried out to protext the environment in the future.

Hopefully things will be better!