Dressing the part: A tourist tries on traditional Indonesia clothes at the Ngliwet Festival in Yogyakarta in April. JP/Singgir Kartana

Wiyono was dumbfounded when asked about tourist activity in his village, his facial expression betraying his complete ignorance that his native settlement was one of Yogyakarta's officially designated tourist villages.

The 39-year-old resident of Tanjung hamlet in Donoharjo village, Sleman regency, claimed he had never seen tourists from other regions - let alone other countries - visiting his village.

Similarly, he shook his head as he commented on the pekbung, a local bamboo musical instrument that has been used as an icon in supporting Donoharjo's "tourist village" reputation.

"There hasn't been one around for quite some time," he said. "One was perhaps last played about five years ago."

Several residents of Banjarharjo, once declared a tourist village in Kalibawang district, Kulonprogo regency, also displayed bewilderment - they knew nothing of the tourist zone designation that has been in place for the past two years. Banjarharjo was named a tourist area because of its Dutch colonial heritage: a suspension bridge.

"To be frank, I don't really know much about any tourist village status here," says 41-year-old Gunarto, who lives near the bridge.

"On Sundays and holidays many youths hang around the bridge. It has even become a place where young couples have their dates. Is that what they call tourism?"

This lack of information - and, perhaps, a certain level of apathy - tends to be widespread in most of the towns sporting the title of "tourist village". This is because most of the villages already named tourist spots have done little to develop, as the idea was never effectively communicated to local communities.

Around 10 years ago, tourist village fever tore through Yogyakarta. Dozens of villages became tourist destinations, if only because of the saturation and repetitiveness of regular mass tourism to traditional spots such as the Kraton (court), Borobudur and Prambanan temples and Parangtritis beach. Special interest tourism began to evolve as an alternative to spruce up the region's fading image.

The "tourist village" concept was touted as a way to turn rural areas with distinctive features or special attractions into new tourist destinations. Arts and crafts centers, typical traditions, natural scenery and cottage industries were among the local highlights offered, in a plan that depended on consistent community participation for success.

Initially, there emerged handicraft-based tourist villages such as Kasongan (earthenware and ceramics), Krebet (wooden batik souvenirs), Manding (leather handicrafts), Gamplong (weaving) and Bobung (wooden masks). After some years, broader-based tourist destinations followed, such as Turgo (natural scenery), Brayut (culture and agriculture) and Tempel (plantations).

However, their growth did not match the original expectations, often because regional administrations were all too eager to name tourist villages through their agencies, sometimes indiscriminately. Local communities were denied involvement. In effect, the title of "tourist village" was merely that - a title - serving only immediate interests. As a result, there was no development to follow up on the designation.

Perhaps the worst example is that of Lopati tourist village, in Bantul regency. About six years ago, it was officially declared a tourist village in a ceremony involving, among others, the head of Bantul's tourism office, the Srandakan district chief, the Association of Indonesian Travel Agents and several tourism-related educational institutes. The government even promptly set up a Tourism Conscious Group (Pokdarwis).

The village in fact does have a great deal of cottage industry potential, with people producing bakpia (cake with mung beans), noodles, salted eggs, shrimp chips, milk, geplak (sweet cake with grated coconut) and herbal medicine. Its handicraft products include bamboo plaitwork and furniture. More interestingly, this clean and tidy village has a unusual method of making noodles called mie lethek - cows help to knead the dough.

But within less than two years, the zeal for developing the "tourist village" had almost vanished. Many villagers regarded the concept as serving only the interests of community figures and believed the village administration to be overenthusiastic about the program. The simple proof of this theory is that most residents - particularly artisans - were oblivious to the tourist village label.

"As long as I have been working on bamboo plaitwork, no tourists have ever come to our place to buy our products. While in fact, bamboo handicraft making was one of those things promoted as meant to boost the tourist village," said 40-year-old Wintolo, a resident of Lopati tourist village, whose remarks were confirmed by his peers.

Kristya Bintara, coordinator of the Yogyakarta Tourist Village Communication Forum, pointed out some of the shortcomings of the program.

"So far, five important aspects have not been given proper attention in tourist village development, which are tourist attractions, a community commitment to receive tourists, supporting facilities, marketing and the tourists themselves," he said. "Without these, the zones already announced as tourist villages will not grow."

Data gathered by this forum indicate Yogyakarta has listed 48 tourist villages across four regencies. But of this number, less than a quarter have really developed into tourist villages. The 10 already seen as succeeding with this status are Kebonagung, Manding, Krebet, Kasongan (Bantul), Trumpon, Turgo, Ketingan, Brayut, Gamplong (Sleman) and Bobung (Gunungkidul).

Industry insiders also can see where the plan is failing.

"One of the indicators to determine the existence of a tourist village is the holding of tourist events involving its local community. An example is the recent Ngliwet (rice boiling) Festival in Kebonagung, Imogiri," said Alex Rudiatmojo, a tourist village observer and owner of Queen Tour, a travel agent in Yogyakarta. "So if no events have taken place, there may be some stagnation in development management."

It appears the fundamental problem affecting tourist village development is the difficulty of making local communities understand the concept and encouraging their active participation.

"Nearly all the stagnant zones have resulted more from the lack of community involvement," added Kristya.

Community involvement is pivotal to the tourist village concept, according to Kristya. This means the involvement of relevant communities and their understanding of the concept become an absolute prerequisite. Government and private companies only provide support, in the form of promotion and infrastructure.

Yet despite the many failures in developing tourist villages, it seems some ambitious advocates remain undaunted in their attempts to carry out their schemes through their persistent proposals.

"Several villages continue to submit their proposals for official appointment as tourist villages, while their potential is in fact minimal," said Kristya, concluding that, "I'm afraid they're merely seeking to boost the village's image."

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