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The Practice of Social Entrepreneurship
in Mount Batur Trekking Tours, Bali
1st I Gede Mudana
Tourism Department
Politeknik Negeri Bali
gedemudana@pnb.ac.id
2nd I Ketut Sutama
Tourism Department
Politeknik Negeri Bali
3rd Cokorda Istri Sri Widhari
Tourism Department
Politeknik Negeri Bali
Abstract-- Mount Batur (1717 meters above sea level) in
Kintamani District, Bangli Regency, is one of the most popular
mountains in the context of climbing/trekking tourism in Bali as
an international destination. This mountain is very exotic because
it has stunning sunrise views, lake views, and many other exotic
things. Every day there are about 300 visitors coming up the
mountain. For the sake of safety in trekking/climbing, the
tourists must be guided by local trekking/climbing guides,
especially for those consisting of more than three (tourists).
Mount Batur is increasingly popular because today Mount
Agung in Karangasem Regency as the highest mountain in Bali is
still erupting. This research was carried out in a qualitative
approach using several related social and critical theories. The
research found that the success of the social entrepreneurship is
because the involvement of the local people around the mountain
becomes a trekking/climbing guides. In fact, they have good
institution with a good management named Perhimpunan
Pemandu Pendakian Gunung Batur (PPPGB or P3GB) involving
more than three hundred people from several villages around the
mountain. This organization works very well. All of this makes a
kind of practice (or "culture") from local people in guiding the
tourists up to the top of the mountain. They have several
economic benefits in doing the job which means that they can
tranform the natural capital (the beauty of the volcano) into an
economic capital.
Keywords-- practices, social entrepreneurship, trekking tours,
Mount Batur.
I. INTRODUCTION
There has been a more and more enlarged tendency in the
people awareness regarding the existence of entity of nature
whose consequences are, natural tourism in the form of
mountain tourism and climbing/trekking tourism, increasingly
becoming a tourist attraction. The number of mountain
climbers/trekkers from year to year has generally increased [1],
[2], [3], [4]. In Indonesia, popular international tourist
destinations such as Bali are increasingly successful at
capturing tourism opportunities even though the image of being
coastal areas with three S- (sea, sand, and sun) is still dominant
[4]. It is realized that until now places that were widely known
as tourist spots in Bali were more on Kuta, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu,
Candidasa, or Lovina rather than mountenous ones [4]. Bali has
for centuries been formed a common civilization through the
history of coastal cultural manifestations [5].
In fact Bali consists of mountainous and hilly areas [6], [7].
With a geographic area of only 5,636.66 sq km, in this
province there are 25 mountains (mountain range) and
volcanoes [8]. The mountains classified as volcanoes in the
Pacific Ring of Fire (Cincin Api Pasifik) and incidentally
classified as active ones are Mount Agung and Mount Batur.
As the world's best tourist destination 2017, according to
international tourism institutions such as TripAdvisor News
[9], the number of climbing/trekking tourists is relatively not
bad as in the case of Mount Agung before experiencing an
eruption in 2017-2018. Between 12 February 2017 and 3
August 2017, there were 4,459 tourists/trekkers in Mount
Agung, most of them were foreigners [1], [2], [3], [4]. This
means an average of 630 people per month or 20 people per
day. Since September 14, 2017 or when its status rises to Level
II (Alert/Waspada), Mount Agung is in a position of beeing
prohibited from climbing/trekking. In November 25, 2017, this
mountain experienced an initial eruption after the last eruption
of more than half a century earlier, namely 1963-1964. In
February 10, 2018, its status dropped to Level III
(Standby/Siaga) and the danger radius is only 4 kilometers but
the climbing/trekking has been banned until now. On the other
side, in its history, Mount Batur repeatedly erupted in the
context of major eruption, minor eruption, to increasing
activity. The most severe major eruption occurred in August 2
to September 21, 1926 which forced Batur Village to move to
its present location. In 2000, it erupted again, and in 2009,
there was an increase in the activity of the mount. Mount Batur
can be climbed through a number of routes, namely the main
starting point at the location of the Jati Temple. The
climbing/trekking generally takes between 1.5 to 2.5 hours
depending on the ability of the climbers/trekkers themselves.
As in many other mountains in Bali, the climbing/trekking is
usually done early in the morning to catch up with the sunrise
view from the top of the mountain.
The purpose of this study was to describe social
entrepreneurship practices regarding climbing/trekking tourism
in rural areas that gave birth to entrepreneurial human
resources of the local people in responding to the great interest
of domestic and foreign markets to enjoy the beauty and
1st International Conference on Social Sciences (ICSS 2018)
Copyright © 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 226
534
exoticism of the mountain. Of course the entrepreneurship
development referred to is relevant to the ideals of nature
conservation and efforts to maintain the sanctity of the
mpuntain because, like the position of the mountains in the
cosmological life of the Balinese people, Mount Batur is
considered a sacred mountain.
II. RESEARCH METHODS
This research was conducted with an interdisciplinary
approach with a qualitative method. In this case, qualitative
research is used because it is considered to be able to explain
the complexity and depth of entrepreneurial problems
concerning the climbing/trekking tours. Research data were
collected through interviews, observation, and document study.
The data were analyzed by qualitative analysis techniques
through data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion [10].
The writing or presentation of this research is generally done
through descriptive-narrative techniques or informal
techniques.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
With the natural capital of Mount Batur and the relative
difficulty of finding work in such an economic situation like
this, the climbing/trekking entrepreneurship has become a
trigger for effective local community welfare. This awakens the
community to take advantage of climbing/trekking or mountain
tourism as a profession for entrepreneurship.
Such a social awareness of the local people regarding
Mount Batur, was seen in the establishment of a
climbing/trekking entrepreneurship organization since 1999.
The organization was named Perhimpunan Pemandu Pendakian
Gunung Batur (abbreviated into PPPGB or P3GB) or HP2GB
(standing for Himpunan Pemandu Pendakian Gunung Batur).
In English, the organization is named The Association of Mt
Batur Trekking Guides as written in the Mount Batur ticket
office and several signboards found around the Jati Temple in
Toya Bungkah subvillage.
In general, the organization which is during 2014-2019 led
by Nyoman Alit Adiana (37 years), is a kind of a common
organization in tourism called Kelompok Sadar Wisata
(Pokdarwis). Pokdarwis is one component in society that has
important roles and contributions in the development of
tourism in the region. The existence of Pokdarwis needs to
continue to be supported and fostered so that it can play a more
effective role in helping to mobilize community participation to
create an environment and a conducive atmosphere for the
growth and development of tourism activities around tourism
destinations [11].
The point here is that PPPGB is driven by the local
community, which in the language of tourism science is called
community-based tourism or social entrepreneurship. Such an
entrepreneurship "from the bottom" is called "small
entrepreneurship in tourism" [12]. Community-based tourism
development, including climbing/trekking to climb Mount
Batur is carried out with the desire to improve the local
community lives to a better level and quality. Entrepreneurship
is "the process of creating something different from devoting
the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying
financial, psychological, and social risks and receiving the
resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction" [13].
Supported by the fact that there are an actual market of
around 300 climbing/trekking tourists every day, the
organization has been running well. The organizational
structure is written clearly. The organization has 62 members
who were senior climbing/trekking guides or a kind of
permanent members. The members can be said to be an
organizational administrartors. Outside the administrators,
there were 382 climbing/trekking guides who operate
alternately everyday in the field. They are often called “junior
tour guides”. If the “senior tour guides” (administrators) consist
of local people in the range of 20-40 years old, the junior ones
are mostly in their teens and 20s and many of them are students
(high school level) who work part time (during school
holidays). The existence of senior-junior leveling shows that
this organization looks professional and is serious about its
regeneration. This is a proof that the social entrepreneurship in
Mount Batur shows the aspects of its social justice.
The working mechanism of the organization is interesting
to discuss. Usually the climbing/trekking guides operating in
the field are those who come from junior guides. Of course as
Balinese people who have socio-cultural and traditional (sosial-
adat) activities, not all of them can work either because of
busyness or because they are attending school or other needs. If
the situation is like this, especially on touristic season (July-
August), senior guides are ready to plunge. According to one of
the managers named I Nengah Edi Ariana (37 years old) who
was interviewed at the starting point in the parking area of Jati
Temple, Toya Bungkah, most guides came from nearby
villages around Mount Batur, especially Songan and Batur
Tengah, beside Pinggan, Blantikan, and Suter. He himself
almost every day starting from 02.00 a.m. was standby at his
post. This junior high school graduated man indeed relied on
his life from managing climbing/trekking activities in the place
because the purchase of climbing/trekking tickets was so
crowded every morning, especially in the months of July and
August.
The organizational body of the PPPGB and the number of
climbing/trekking tourists/climbers (paxs) who climb up and
down Mount Batur every day and the relatively good operation
of the organization show the advancement of the social
entrepreneurship in this mountain in recent years. The rules are
clear: a minimum of five paxs must be accompanied by one
guide. Every pax is charged Rp. 100,000 plus donation of Rp.
400,000 for the organization. If there are five fax, then they
must pay Rp. 900,000. This is worthy of being a model for
community-based entrepreneurship development regarding
climbing/trekking tours. The development of community-based
tourism through mountain tourism and climbing/trekking
tourism was developed with attention to the interests of various
stakeholders, namely the government, the private sector, and
the community. The three parties as (threefolding or three
political-economic-cultural pillars) [14], [15]. The development
of community-based tourism was developed based on the
principle of balance and harmony between the interests of
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 226
535
various stakeholders in tourism development. Therefore, the
development of community-based tourism demands
coordination and cooperation as well as a balanced role
between various stakeholders including the government, the
private sector, and the community.
As many as 300 tourists climb up and down Mount Batur
almost every day. Even this number will increase dramatically
in July-August which coincides with high season tourism and
holiday for school children and students. In this case, foreign
tourists from Europe dominated the climb of Mount Batur. This
was stated by the Head of the Administration Sub Division of
Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam Bali (Bali Natural
Resources Conservation Center) Ketut Catur Marbawa. The
climbing/trekking tourists generally are from Europe,
Australia, and China. Those from Europe amount to around
50% but the number of Chinese people to the mountain is
increasing (August 10, 2017). According to him, besides the
short path, it is close to everywhere (36 km from Ubud). What
tourists look for in Mount Batur is the view of the mountains,
the caldera, and the lake.
Compared to Mount Agung, Mount Batur is more complete
as a "mountain area as a tourist attraction" because it is
surrounded by a lake, hills, hot water resource, cultural
resources, and so on. In addition to the Batur volcano, there are
at least some very popular tourist attractions, especially the
lake (Lake Batur), Penelokan in Kintamani hill, Toya Bungkah
with natural hot spring pools, the unique culture of Trunyan
Village, and the Batur UNESCO Global Geopark museum.
Mount Batur is one of the holy mountains in Bali. As a holy
mountain, of course there is a large temple arround it, in this
case the (Ulundanu) Batur Temple.
With the eruption of Mount Agung (3,142 masl) at present,
it is clear that Mount Batur (1,717 masl) is the most favorite
climbing/trekking arena in Bali. Compared to Mount Agung
which is more challenging in natural terrain, Mount Batur is
more "friendly" for climbers/trekkers or tourists, especially
beginners and those who are physically no longer too strong.
There is a climbing track made paved to an altitude of 1,200
masl. At the top, there are even some local residents who sell
hot coffee to welcome the sunrise. All of them are profitable
and fun for most climbing/trekking tourists but not for real
climbers/trekkers who really like challenging adventure. Ticket
sales posts in the parking area of Jati Temple are always on
standby to serve those who climb to the top of Mount Batur. At
02.00 to 04.00 a.m., the location of the Jati Temple area is
crowded with those who will climb. Every day so many
motorbikes and four-wheeled vehicles drove climbing/trekking
tourists. Starting at 8:00 a.m., the area around the ticket sales
post slowly starts to crowded with tourists coming down from
the top of the mountain. This usually lasts until 11.00 or 12.00.
There is rarely a climb above 6:00 a.m. because the one being
chased is a sunrise scene.
Above all, reducing poverty is the most important point in
the development of the social entrepreneurship in the Mount
Batur climbing/trekking tours. Moreover, as stated by
Governor of Bali Made Mangku Pastika at the end of May
2018, that the number of poor people in Bali is still relatively
high although at the national level is in the lowest rate [16].
Up to March 2018, the number of poor people in Bali reached
171.76 thousand or 4.01% of the total population [7]. There
are still many Balinese people who are poor and live in remote
areas [16]. The reality is that Bangli is the smallest district
with PAD (pendapatan asli daerah or local revenue) in Bali
even though Bali is an international tourist destination with a
visit of around 15 million tourists each year.
Poverty alleviation has become a top priority by the United
Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), as evidenced
by the issuance of the ST-EP concept (Sustainable Tourism as
an effective tool for Eliminating Poverty) [17]. Entrepreneurial
practices in the Mount Batur climbing/trekking tours are
products of initiative (initiative) and community activity-
creativity. In the theory of practice of the French sociologist
named Pierre Bourdieu, society is considered active in the
practice of making culture, and culture is an arena of struggle
(power struggle) [18], so that culture changes constantly,
processes, and is fluid [19].
IV. CONCLUSION
There are several factors that led to the development of
social entrepreneurship in the Mount Batur climbing/trekking
tours. It is social awareness of the ownership of natural capital
regarding the mountain. This fact is relevant to the difficulties
the people have in finding formal job. Moreover, there are a
number of tourist attractions in the vicinity of Mount Batur,
which includes a lake (Lake Batur), a temple (Pura Ulun Danu
Batur), Penelokan Kintamani (a hill for sightseeing), Toya
Bungkah (for recreation of natural hot water), agro-tourism of
vegetables and fruits, Trunyan Village (to see the cremation
culture or corpse procession of the local peoiple), and the
UNESCO Global Geopark Batur Museum which attract
climbing/trekking tourists to find the top of Mount Batur.
Beside that, the position of Mount Batur is now as the
dominant product of mountain tourism and climbing/trekking
tourism in Bali substituting the Mount Agung as the highest
mountain in Bali which is still in the status of Level III/Siaga or
Standby.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to express a very great thank to the
Director General of Directorate General for Research
Strengthening and Development, Ministry of Research,
Technology and Higher Education, Republic of Indonesia as
the sponsor of this research, the Head of Perhimpunan
Pemandu Pendakian Gunung Batur (PPPGB), the Director of
Politeknik Negeri Bali (PNB), the Head of Tourism
Department, Politeknik Negeri Bali, and the Head of Center for
Reasearch and Social Service, Politeknik Negeri Bali for all the
supports during this research.
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