Green Entrepreneurship: A Study for Developing Eco-Tourism in Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to determine (1) the inhibiting factors and solutions in the development of eco-tourism, and (2) how green entrepreneurship can be used for eco-tourism development. The increasing issue of global warming is pushing awareness of environmental preservation. This condition changes the people's paradigm in traveling from the concept of mass-tourism to the concept of eco-tourism. The development of eco-tourism has consequences for entrepreneurial activities which is known as green entrepreneurship. This study is applied research conducted in East Lombok, one of the regions in Indonesia. The sampling technique used is purposive sampling covering a total of 34 informants. Data collection methods are carried out through interviews, observation, and documentation studies. Based on the data analysis, the findings of this study show that (a) inhibiting factors of eco-tourism development are limitation of eco-tourism knowledge, lack of awareness in environmental preservation, and absence of supporting government policy; and (b) solution for eco-tourism development discovered in this research is divided into five factors i.e., condition, demand, related industry and support, strategy, government. Besides, for applying the green entrepreneurship model i.e., developing the spirit of green entrepreneurship, training in making products and services that are environmentally friendly is needed.

1. Introduction

Tourism is vital for the success of many economies around the world. There are several benefits of tourism on host destinations. In terms of definition, tourism is a travel activity carried out by a person or group of people by visiting a particular place for recreational purposes, personal development, or studying the uniqueness of the tourist attraction that is visited for a while. According to Goeldner and Ritchie (2003), “tourism may be defined as the processes, activities, and outcomes arising from the relationships and the interactions among tourists, tourism suppliers, host governments, host communities, and surrounding environments that are involved in the attracting and hosting of visitors” (p. 6). Based on the opinion of Chen and Tsai (2007) the ultimate primary purpose of attractions is to attract the customer’s attention so that they can come to a specific location and explore the various attractions on vacation. In the travel and tourism industry, attractions, therefore, play a particularly important role as this attracts tourists from all over the world (Purnomo et al., 2020). An attraction that has not yet been developed is a potential resource and cannot yet be called a tourist attraction until there are further development efforts. Tourism objects and attractions are very basic for the ongoing process of tourism. Without an attraction in a certain area or place, it will complicate the development of tourism. Ali and Frew (2014) found ICT tools to be innovative for information management and distribution for critical decision-making. Innovation was fostered through the use of ICT for sustainable tourism (ST) by leading to a better understanding of the tourism product, monitoring, measuring and evaluating, forecasting trends, developing partnerships, and engaging and supporting stakeholder relationships. ICT would provide novel ways of approaching marketing, energy monitoring, waste management, and communication for destinations. Concern for tourist destinations, descriptions of tourist destinations, and tourist motivation are very significant influences on tourists’ attention to visit again (Junaedi & Harjanto, 2020).

The development of the concept of tourism has changed a lot. These changes usually occur due to various conditions or certain situations. The issue of global warming is one of the situations that encourage change, where people have a better level of awareness of environmental preservation. Sustainable tourism is seen by some as a panacea to mitigate the negative impact of tourism on global warming, and by many others as a ploy planted by post‐industrial society to divert attention from the core issues (Korstanje & George, 2012). Thus, the people’s paradigm of tourism has also changed, from tourism with the concept of mass-tourism to tourism with the concept of eco-tourism. Ecotourism can be defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserve the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people and involves interpretation and education. Ecotourism’s perceived potential as an effective tool for sustainable development is the main reason why developing countries are now embracing it and including it in their economic development and conservation strategies. Ecotourism, as alternative tourism, involves visiting natural areas to learn, to study, or to carry out activities environmentally friendly, that is, tourism based on the nature experience, which enables the economic and social development of local communities.

Green entrepreneurship is the activity of consciously addressing an environmental/social problem/need through the realization of entrepreneurial ideas with a high level of risk, which has a net positive effect on the natural environment and at the same time is financially sustainable. Green entrepreneurship is a form of attention of individuals and organizations involved in entrepreneurial activities by creating environmental benefits by offering green products or services that are green (Rao & Reddy, 2013). This is also a paradigm shift in improving the economy, not because of the economic crisis, but because of public awareness. Jevaan (2014) suggested that green entrepreneurship is a mindset that can best be encompassed by the four Ps: (1) planet, (2) personal, (3) person, (4) profit. Bučar (2017) stated that future tourism development that can benefit local residents, the environment, and the economy must be green-tourism-oriented.

The concept of green-entrepreneurship has a linear relationship with the development of eco-tourism, so this concept can be used as a strategy in the development of eco-tourism. In a market-based economy, actors in green entrepreneurship have an important role in adopting green business practices. Massi and De Nisco (2018) stated that eco-tourism is a fast-developing tourism segment. Ecotourism is a form of tourism that attempts to minimize its impact upon the environment, is ecologically sound, and avoids the negative impacts of many large-scale tourism developments undertaken in areas that have not previously been developed (Turner et al., 2012; Massi & De Nisco, 2018). Singh et al. (2016) developed a framework for identifying the need for ecotourism certification within ecotourism and sports tourism (EST) by discussing the overlapping characteristics on the dimensions of EST. They discovered four strategic segments (namely; vacation, green, action-oriented, and active tourists), their related activities, and the level of need for eco-certification.

This is applied research conducted in East Lombok, which is one of the regions in Indonesia. The consideration of choosing the object of this research is the potential of the area, and also the development of tourist visits, as presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Statistics of Foreign Tourist Visits in Indonesia (2012–2016)

East Lombok is an area that has exotic and enchanting natural beauty. However, all of its potentials cannot just draw tourists to visit East Lombok. Tourism industry development needs an appropriate concept. One alternative is eco-tourism; a precise observation is needed to obtain the whole picture of tourism potential development in East Lombok.

This research aims to determine inhibiting factors and the solutions in developing eco-tourism. It is based on the consideration of natural and cultural preservation. Eco-tourism development is expected to improve the attractiveness of tourism destinations. The problem in eco-tourism development in the research sample area is the absence of a comprehensible eco-tourism format. It can be caused by various inhibiting factors that must be identified to obtain the right solution.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the creative process of creating something distinctive. The essence of entrepreneurship is the ability to create something new and different (Camba, 2020; Murni et al., 2019; Wardana et al., 2020; Yi et al., 2018). As defined by some experts, entrepreneurship is something related to the ability to create something new and distinctive. Hindle and Rushworth (2000) stated that entrepreneurship covers activities related to the creation and management of a new organization that is unique and innovative. Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of value (Hadi & Udin, 2021). With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values than simply economic ones (Skordoulis et al., 2020; Tjahjadi et al., 2020). Hisrich (2004) stated that a successful company is a company that is always innovating and entrepreneurs must understand innovation and the process.

Based on some definitions above, the feature of people performing entrepreneurship function essentially is able to think creatively and behave innovatively. People performing entrepreneurship function is called an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur must be able to create innovation and adopt new ideas in developing his/her business. It indicates that entrepreneurs must be able to spot opportunities and consider risks. Farinelli et al. (2013) stated that businessmen are business persons that can spot new business opportunities and dare to take risks in implementing their ideas to become a commercial reality, to improve the economic level of them and the people around them. Entrepreneurship is essential in creating added value through the utilization of resources in new and distinct ways, to face the competition process. Zimmerer (1996) stated that added value can be created through several ways as follows: developing new technology, discovering new knowledge, improving existing products or services, and finding different ways of providing more goods and services with fewer resources.

2.2. Green Entrepreneurship

Green entrepreneurship is businesses and companies coming up with solutions that have a worldwide application and can help save the environment. At the same time, they must make sure that the solutions will not have a negative financial effect on the business. Green entrepreneurship definitions are stated by some experts. Green Project (2012) defined that green entrepreneurship as activities conducted to apply entrepreneurship ideas, which positively impact the sustainability of the environment and finance. The definition of green entrepreneurship was first stated by Berle (1991) by referring to the idea of an “environmentally friendly entrepreneur” so that it becomes a responsibility to create something expected.

There are differences of point of view regarding green entrepreneurship among developed and developing countries (Chan & Bhatta, 2013). Developed countries emphasize market opportunity while developing countries tend to focus on market needs. According to observation conducted by Khanna (2011), entrepreneurs in China and India, which are developing countries, change economic development patterns through affordable product development to fulfill the needs of the poor. Nevertheless, it is still in the corridor of green, which refers to the solution of the problem focusing on environmental sustainability.

Green entrepreneurship is the activity of consciously addressing environmental and social problems and need, and coming up with brilliant innovative entrepreneurial ideas that will bring a solution to them. Green entrepreneurs are important for economic development. Green entrepreneurs can make a significant contribution to eliminating unemployment, poverty, and environmental problems. Green entrepreneurs have a greater role in environmentally friendly practices and environmental tasks than other entrepreneurs. They can provide environmentally friendly products and services or clean technology assistance etc. they contribute to the green economy. (Novela et al., 2015). Besides, Yousuf et al. (2017) stated that a green entrepreneur is a disruptive thinker who is able to save the sociological environment from environmental threats.

2.3. Eco-Tourism

Ecotourism can be defined as responsible travel to natural areas that conserve the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and educations (TIES, 1990). A similar definition of eco-tourism is also stated by Fennel (1999). It is a form of tourism to a natural area that is conducted to conserve the environment, life, and welfare of the locals. According to Page and Ross (2002), eco-tourism is tourism that provides many benefits such as, a funding resource for the conservation area, protection of conservation area, job alternative for local people, and a choice to promote conservation and encouragement of conservation efforts in particular. From the opinions above, eco-tourism is intended to offer tourists an insight into the impact of human beings on the environment and to foster a greater appreciation of our natural habitats. Ecotourism can offer a viable combination of ecological and cultural protection, increase local awareness of the value of preserving the natural and cultural environments, and aid in economic development

Various definitions stated by experts mentioned above show positive support for natural resource protection and an important social dimension that is important for eco-tourism. Therefore, tourism concept development must have basic principles in its application. Page and Ross (2002) stated three main principles in eco-tourism, i.e.,

a. Conservation is a principle about concern, responsibility, commitment toward environmental preservation of nature and culture, conducting responsible business rules, and a sustainable economy.

b. Society participation is a principle of planning and development of eco-tourism that must optimally involve society.

c. Economy is the principle of development of eco-tourism conducted efficiently. Natural resources must be regulated so that their continuous utilization can support future generations.

The above principles emphasized by eco-tourism aim to maintain the quality of experience that will be perceived by tourists where they enjoy nature and culture. The continuity of physical environment, socio-cultural, and economy of local residents will be kept in balance.

Adoption of an environmentally friendly approach is not always related to big costs. Jevaan (2014) stated that the profits of green entrepreneurship are: (1) reducing material cost by reducing pollution output and the amount of raw material used, (2) surviving in the longer period, having bigger consumer loyalty, (3) motivating willingness to work.

2.4. Potential Development of Eco-Tourism in Indonesia

The “back to nature” trend encourages the development of the tourism industry with the concept of ecotourism. Ecotourism is an alternative of solutions in bringing together tourism and environmental aspects. Various researches show that tourism activities contribute to bad effects on the environment, socio-cultural, and economy.

Indonesia is an archipelago country with priceless tribe diversity. Natural and cultural beauty becomes an attraction for foreign tourists. Those two factors can bring a lot of profits to the economic sector. Development of the eco-tourism concept is not easy because many tourism potentials have been damaged due to many irresponsible actions. Moreover, the economic benefit cannot bring prosperity to local residents so that they only become the objects of tourism activity. Therefore, to revive the tourism industry by protecting the existing ecosystem, eco-tourism becomes the solution to the problems above mentioned.

Eco-tourism application strategy in Indonesia must always have a moral responsibility toward society and the surrounding environment. Application of this strategy needs role synergy of various parties i.e. government, private, and local society. The government must be able to make tourism one of the main agendas in national development. The collaboration of government, private party, and society is needed in infrastructure development, which is always based on the principle of economic, social, cultural, and environmental balance.

3. Research Methodology

This is applied research. It is descriptive qualitative research because the nature and purpose of this research are not testing the hypothesis, but trying to obtain a picture of green entrepreneurship development in eco-tourism development strategy. The research object is the implementation of green entrepreneurship in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, by observing the social situation.

The subjects of research are the community involved in green entrepreneurship activities and local government. Research subjects are informants or interviewees who provide the information needed. The informants are determined by the purposive sampling technique. The informant selection process was conducted carefully. Based on these criteria a total of 34 informants were obtained with the details: (a) 22 informants from the community of green entrepreneurship practitioners, (b) 3 pioneer figures in green entrepreneurship development, (c) 4 Regional Tourism Agency, (d) 3 entrepreneurs in the tourism sector, and (e) 2 academics figure.

Data of this research consist of primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained directly through interviews and researchers’ discussion, which are equipped with written notes and recording devices. Secondary data was obtained by a data collection technique that supports primary data. The supporting data in this research are documentation of supporting data on tourism activities obtained from both governmental and non-governmental institutions.

The data collection technique was conducted by structurally interviewing informants. The researchers were involved in activities performed by informants. Documentation is also conducted by collecting supportive data from various related parties. Furthermore, the data analysis technique in this research was conducted in three steps i.e. data reduction, data presentation, and drawing a conclusion (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Research Process

a. Data reduction is the transformation of numerical or alphabetical digital information derived empirically or experimentally into a corrected, ordered, and simplified form (Miles & Huberman, 1992). The steps in this phase are sharpening analysis, grouping or categorizing of each problem by conducting brief description, directing, removing the unnecessary data, and organizing data so that it can be drawn and diversified.

b. Data presentation is a collection of information that provides the possibility of drawing conclusions and taking action (Miles & Huberman, 1992). Data presentation is directed so that reduction results can be organized and arranged in relationship patterns to be easier to understand.

c. Drawing conclusion or verification is an effort to find or understand the meaning, explanation, and flow of cause and effect.

4. Results and Discussion

Structured interviews and observations were conducted to discover inhibiting factors and solutions in eco-tourism development. Results of this research reveal inhibiting factors of eco-tourism:

a. Limitation of eco-tourism knowledge of the society. Society’s knowledge of eco-tourism is very low because of low access to areas with tourism potential. This condition is the biggest obstacle for society to obtain knowledge because of the lack of supporting infrastructure.

b. Low level of awareness in preserving the environment. Most people in the research environment understand the tourism potentials of their area, but they do not understand the meaning of preserving the environment. They only focus on improving their economy as such they ignore nature and culture preservation.

c. Supporting government policy.

The government is the drive in the development of eco-tourism because various resource limitations can be solved by government interference. However, due to the absence of a policy that strongly regulates this issue, the regional government will also ignore this issue. As a result, tourism potentials cannot be discovered.

The solutions of eco-tourism development discovered by the result of this research are divided into five factors, i.e.: (1) condition, which is the availability of supporting physical resources, (2) demand, which is related to the importance of nature preservation in tourism development, (3) related industry and support, which are related to the availability of support from various sources in environmental preservation, (4) strategy, which is the implementation of green entrepreneurship in creating eco-tourism model, (5) government, which consists of the improvement of human resource and technology as well as the application of related policy. The division of solutions in this research is conducted to facilitate drawing conclusions. The solutions can be conducted only when there is a synergy of government, society, and related private parties.

Based on solution mapping in Figure 2, it is discovered that the application of green entrepreneurship is a strategy that can be implemented in the development of eco-tourism. The application of an efficient green entrepreneurship scheme consists of the integration of technical, business, and communication skills to provide long-term and sustainable growth (Jevaan, 2014). Observations from the green entrepreneurship strategy can be implemented (1) developing the spirit of green entrepreneurship; (2) training in making products and services that are environmentally friendly, which can be applied in the sample area of this study i.e., (a) the use of natural dyes derived from plants for woven products, (b) development of cow bone powder (bone ash) as a natural coloring agent in woven products, (c) the development of hydroponic plants by the use of fertilizers from natural dyes woven waste, (d) development of shellfish culture in the context of increasing the quality of pearls, (e) making recycle products from woven litter and shells into souvenirs; and (3) the government policies that regulate environmental activities.

Figure 2: Result of Research

Various activities related to actions in the green business are a breakthrough toward green development and enable the society to change their lifestyle. Therefore, when viewed in terms of business, it becomes special responsibility to promote green entrepreneurship. This strategy has a linear relationship with eco-tourism development, in which each action is always based on natural preservation. The result is that promotion improvement is not only identical with amazing nature but also beautiful culture and its cultural products.

5. Conclusion

This research concludes that (1) inhibiting factors of eco-tourism development include: limitation of eco-tourism knowledge, lack of awareness in environmental preservation, and absence of supporting government policy; and solution for eco-tourism development discovered in this research is divided into five factors, i.e.: (a) condition, which is the availability of supporting physical resources, (b) demand, which is related to the importance of nature preservation in tourism development, (c) related industry and support, which are related to the availability of support from various sources in environmental preservation, (d) strategy, which is the implementation of green entrepreneurship in creating eco-tourism model, (e) government, which consists of the improvement of human resource and technology as well as the application of related policy.

Besides, the green entrepreneurship model can be applied by developing the spirit of green entrepreneurship, training in making products and services that are environmentally friendly, which can be applied in the sample area of this study i.e., (a) the use of natural dyes derived from plants for woven products, (b) development of cow bone powder (bone ash) as a natural coloring agent in woven products, (c) the development of hydroponic plants by the use of fertilizers from natural dyes woven waste, (d) development of shellfish culture in the context of increasing the quality of pearls, (e) making recycle products from woven litter and shells into souvenirs, and the government policies that regulate environmental activities.

This research data is still specific because the research sample is relatively small. Furthermore, general data is needed, which can be done through questionnaires so that it can support qualitative data in this research, or in other words, the results of the research will be more supportive when using mixed methods.