Understanding the Diving Tourism Industry in Tulamben Using the Scuba Diving Tourism System Framework

As one of the most-known wreck dive destinations in the world, diving tourism at the USAT Liberty site in Tulamben, Bali, has been developing for more than forty years. However, this niche island tourism is facing other problems besides the deteriorating condition of the shipwreck. Some examples include emerging conflicts of interest between stakeholders and the local community's economic dependency on diving tourism. Using the scuba diving tourism system framework, this article aims to understand wreck-diving tourism management in Tulamben, focusing on involved key stakeholders by examining their positions, roles, and contributions to socio-cultural, socio-economic, and environmental sustainability. This study uses social network analysis to examine the dynamics of actor relations in depth. Data were collected through field observation, interviews, and questionnaire surveys in 2019, 2020, and 2022. The results show that involved stakeholders in the management of wreck diving at the USAT Liberty site consist of local people, the traditional village, local government bodies, business owners (both native Balinese and outsiders), and divers, who were predominately foreigners. The study also revealed the high dependency of locals on diving tourism, causing them to experience economic difficulties when wreck diving stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to that, the lack of transparency regarding the number of tourists and the profits from ticket sales made it difficult to develop facilities and attractions. This study argues that community-based tourism management needs to be maintained to ensure that the local community remains the main actor. However, this practice needs to be continuously evaluated internally and externally to overcome various problems that currently exist.