Historical Context

During the colonial era, tourism was regulated carefully by the government administration of the Dutch East Indies, with international tourists encouraged to travel in groups, and to visit the more significant 'landmark' destinations of Java, Bali and Sumatra. Much of the international tourism of the 1920s and 1930s was by international visitors on oceanic cruises. The 1930s did see a modest but significant influx of mainly European tourists and longer term stayers to Bali. Many came for the blossoming arts scene in the Ubud area, which was as much a two-way exchange between the Balinese and outsiders as it was an internal phenomenon.
In a number of cases, where international events interfered, some years in the "Visit Indonesia" decade were considerable disasters. Considerable cynicism on the part of some poor local communities in Java led to the appearance of graffiti on water tanks and abandoned buildings proclaiming "obyek wisata", in reference to local government authorities enthusiasm to attract interest to locations with very limited interest to international tourists who tended to tread the well-worn path between the larger, and in some cases, over-promoted "tourism objects" as they were called. With the advent of the internet and the enthusiasm for promotional websites, tourism in the twenty first century has seen the style of street vendors in busy tourist locations of the past extend to website creators - cluttered, chaotic and of varying quality. Somehow Visit Indonesia Year 2008 is planned, and on works.
( source from : Wikipedia )



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