A Tale of Two Disasters: How is Disaster Emerging as a Tourist Destination in Indonesia?

The paper examines how disasters are represented as tourist destinations by local tour guides in tours around two Indonesian disaster areas at the Mount Merapi Eruption in Jogjakarta, Central Java, and Lapindo Mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia. Across the world ‘disaster’ is defined as an observable event in time and space in which societies incur physical damage and loss and/or disruption of their routine activities. Despite the formal definition of disaster characterized by losses, sadness, sorrow, and trauma, in contrast, it is positioned as a more authentic, realistic, and challenging space, as demonstrated by the development of tourism destinations at Mount Merapi and the Lapindo mudflow. By first exploring the complex geography and history of the two disaster areas, this paper argues that any representation of these places can only ever be subjective, conditional and uncertain. Through in-depth interviews and observation with local tour guides and tourism operators this paper investigates how disaster areas are represented to tourists and how its messages are conveyed as ‘satisfaction and pleasure tours’. It becomes clear that local tour guides do have the capacity to change the image of disasters as a tourism destination. The paper also scrutinizes in which ways local tour guides transform the perception of fear to the spirit of struggle in post-disaster contexts. It concludes that the local tour guides are responsible for changing the negative perceptions and images of disaster and, through the tours, realize transformative aims.