Interpreting Hope: A Critical Hermeneutic Study of Tourism Development Visibility, Justice, and Sustainability in North Sinjai District, Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69930/ajer.v2i3.623Keywords:
Undertourism, critical hermeneutics, distributive justice, sustainable tourism, North SinjaiAbstract
This study analyzes the May 2024 Indonesian Public Image Survey Report–LSI Denny JA in North Sinjai District, South Sulawesi, using a hermeneutic-critical approach based on Ricoeur and Habermas. The results show a complete absence of tourism (0.0%) from the narrative of community expectations, the lowest satisfaction with tourism management (63%), and the highest dissatisfaction with fishermen (44.8%). This phenomenon reflects chronic undertourism and the structural invisibility of tourism in the lifeworld of local communities. The paradox of high satisfaction (71.3%) amidst economic hardship (62.3%) provides a golden time window of 2025–2027. The study recommends a “Community First, Tourism Later” strategy with the empowerment of 1,000 fishing families, dual infrastructure, and a local-level INSTO-UNWTO pilot. North Sinjai has the potential to become a national model for transitioning from extreme undertourism to sustainable, inclusive and equitable micro-tourism.
References
1. UNWTO. World Tourism Barometer – January 2024. Madrid: UNWTO; 2024.
2. Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia. Annual Performance Report 2023. Jakarta: Kemenparekraf; 2023.
3. President of the Republic of Indonesia. Presidential Regulation No. 63 of 2020 concerning the Establishment of 10 New Priority Tourism Destinations. Jakarta: State Secretariat; 2020.
4. Cole S, Eriksson J. Tourism and social justice: Critical perspectives. London: Routledge; 2021.
5. Milano C, Novelli M, Cheer JM. Overtourism and tourismphobia. Tourism Management. 2022;89:104108.
6. Salim L, Rahayu P. Inequality in tourism development in Eastern Indonesia post-pandemic. Journal of Regional Studies. 2024;15(1):23–41.
7. Andriani D, Ratnaningtyas R. Marginalization of undertourism destinations in Eastern Indonesia. Indonesian Tourism Journal. 2025;20(1):45–62.
8. Sinjai Regency Tourism Office. Annual Report on Tourism Development 2022–2023. Sinjai: Tourism Office; 2023.
9. Nurdin A, Ismail M. Low visibility of local destinations: A case study of Sinjai Regency. Proceedings of the National Seminar on Sustainable Tourism. 2024.
10. Rahman A, Hadijah S. Public perception of tourism development versus basic infrastructure. J Socio-Economic Coastal. 2023;9(2):78–95.
11. Syamsul B, Arfah T. Community expectations of development. J Planologi Indonesia. 2025;12(1):56–73.
12. Hidayat R, Pratiwi A. Infrastructure vs tourism: Community priorities. J Urban & Regional Development. 2024;20(2):112–130.
13. Indonesia's Public Image–LSI Denny JA. Sinjai Regency Survey Report May 2024. Jakarta: CPI; 2024.
14. BPS Sinjai Regency. Sinjai in Figures 2024. Sinjai: Central Statistics Agency; 2024.
15. Ricoeur P. Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge UP; 2021.
16. Habermas J. The Theory of Communicative Action. Boston: Beacons; 1987.
17. Susilo D, Syahputra I. Habermas and development criticism. Journal of Communication Studies. 2023;20(2):189–207.
18. Bowen GA. Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qual Res J. 2021;21(4):381–397.
19. Dalimunthe RF. Document research methods. J Social Research Methodology. 2024;12(1):45–60.
20. Rahayu P, Pratama A. Trends in public document research. J Indonesian Social Sciences. 2023;10(1):78–94.
21. Sari N, Wibowo R. Document-based research in Indonesia. J Qualitative Research Methods. 2025;15(1):23–41.
22. Fairclough N. Critical Discourse Analysis. 2nd ed. London: Routledge; 2020.
23. Ernawati NM, et al. Tourism discourse & exclusion. J Sustain Tourism. 2022;30(6):1289–1306.
24. Akbar I, Yang Z, Han F, Kanat G. Negative political environment & tourism. Sustainability. 2020;12(1):143.
25. Braun V, Clarke V. Thematic analysis: A practical guide. London: SAGE; 2021.
26. IGBD Putra, Triarchi E. Undertourism in emerging destinations. Current Issues in Tourism. 2023;26(10):1598–1614.
27. Kun X, Ullah W, Dejun L, Ziyun W. Rural tourism development in Hainan. Sci Reports. 2025;15:1602.
28. Tian X, Jiang Y. Behavioral determinants in rural tourism. Sci Reports. 2025;15:1826.
29. Wu K, Wu M, An Z, Jiao H. Ecological tourism security. Sci Reports. 2025;15:3943.
30. Sinjai Regency Government. Sinjai Regency RPJMD 2021–2026. Sinjai: Sinjai Regency Government; 2021.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Nur isra Resyah, Astariadi Kurniawan, Ainun, Yoshie Sukendar Anwar, Myrza Rahmanita
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
