Is the Shadow Economy Damaged Local Tourism? Content and Sentiment Analysis in Indonesia

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Herwin Mopangga, Ghozali Maski, Multifiah, Dias Satria

Abstract

Most of the literature reveals the difficulty of obtaining accurate information on shadow economic activities because the individuals involved in these activities wish to remain unidentified. This study aims to identified the characteristic of the shadow economy and verify its negative impact on local tourism in Bone Bolango Regency in period of 2015 to 2020. Using qualitative approach where labels, categories and tourist sentiments towards the research focus are obtained from tripadvisor.com then validated by interviews and focus group discussions. This study revealed that the shadow economy in local tourism is captured at four categories; human resources, environment, price rates and safety and security. This practically includes: use of uneducated and unskilled workers who legally or illegally profit from tourism services; irresponsible use of natural resources and the environment that affects the quality of destinations and damages the development of the tourism industry base; unilaterally determining the prices of tourism goods and services that are sold or rented at an unreasonable price rate; and bad behavior that ignores safety and security aspects of tourism. Types of the shadow economy are boat taxis, rental of diving equipment, fresh-seafood sellers, motorcycle taxis, car rentals, homestays, individual parking services, tour guides, food and drinks as well as retailers. The research findings primarily provide economic implications for those who works in shadow economy area, that their activity has negative impact to the local tourism.

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