Co-designing micro-marketing service for businesses in Pacitan and North Lombok
The impact of travel and tourism on the economic and social development of a country can be enormous. Travel and tourism can open up new businesses, trade and capital investment, create jobs and entrepreneurialism for the workforce and protect heritage and cultural values1.
The direct contribution of travel & tourism to Indonesia’s GDP in 2014 was over IDR 325 billion (3.2% of GDP). This almost doubled to 6% of GDP (over IDR 345, billion) in 20152, economic activities were generated by industries such as hotels, travel agents, airlines and passenger transport services.
Aside from Tourism, small businesses are one of critical component of local economies. Small business account for over 99% of all firms in all economic sectors and employ over 95% of the population in Indonesia3. Small businesses have the ability to generate employment – which will reducing poverty.
Focusing on improving tourism and small businesses, branding and promotion, KOMPAK (Kolaborasi Masyarakat dan Pelayanan untuk Kesejahteraan; KOMPAK is an Australia Indonesia Government partnership working to reduce poverty in Indonesia by supporting the Government of Indonesia (Gol) to improve basic services and economic opportunities for the poor and vulnerable) through Tulodo Indonesia develop a prototype that addresses community needs in the existing tourist village and small business, Tulodo conducted a series of focus group discussions with the main actors of the tourist village in Lombok and food product in Pacitan.
Tulodo used the principles of human centered design, including from ideo.org. The process starts with the people for whom the service is designed for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs. The followings are some lessons learnt from the Tulodo’s work:
- Documentation
Documentation is an easy and important way to explore the situation and dynamics of the community, the tourist attractions, and how community contributes to the development of the prototype. We document every activity in the tourist villages by taking notes and also taking photos.
- Why
We asked a lot of ‘why’ questions to explore more information on the tourist village. “Why did you develop a tourist village?” “Is there an increase in the number of visitors in the tourist village?”. This method usually starts from a common question that is expected to more focus on to a sharp question. By repeatedly asking the questions “why”, we try to determine the root of the problem.
- Personal Interviews
Human centered design is about approaching people that we are designing for. It is very important to hear their voices about the issues. When we interview someone in their workplace or local context, we learn their way of thinking, behaviour, and lifestyle.
- Group Interviews
Even though group interviews do not have the depth of individual interviews, it can give us an interesting view of how people plan to operate. A good group interview is trying to hear everyone’s voices, as well as differences of opinions or views. The group interview is one method to understand what’s going on and what potential is in a community.
- Asset Mapping
Asset mapping is one activity to learn more from people we are designing for. During our visit in the tourist village, we conducted mapping of the existing assets and supporting facilities in the tourist villages to explore the potential that the village has. Asset mapping can also help the people we are designing for to visualise a big picture of the issue and explore more ideas on how to solve the problems.
- Local Guide
We always had a local guide who helped us during our visit in the four tourist villages. Having someone from the community in the tourist village we are designing for, the local guide will help us to explore more about the village’s routines and habits.
Using FGD as data collection method can explore more about people’s opinions and perceptions around issues and challenges. Its results can contribute to developing the marketing prototype that can be tailored in the local context and will be beneficial for people who live in the tourist village.
In the next article, we will discuss about the methods to develop and test the marketing service prototype.
1. World Travel and Tourism Council. (2015). Travel & Tourism: Economic Impact 2015 Indonesia. London: WTTC.
2. World Travel and Tourism Council. (2015). Travel & Tourism: Economic Impact 2015 Indonesia. London: WTTC.
3. USAID. (2012). A Snapshot of Indonesian Entrepreneurship and Micro, Small, and Medium Sized Enterprise Development. Jakarta: USAID.
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