COVID-19, tourism, and small islands in Indonesia: Protecting fragile communities in the global Coronavirus pandemic

Small island communities are one of the critical groups with a high risk to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The limitations of health systems and rapid growth of tourism are problems faced by local communities in small islands in the recent COVID-19 epidemic. This paper discusses the potentiality and issues of tourism and the COVID-19 threat in small islands. The iconic landscape and culture of Indonesian small islands led to significant tourism growth in these small islands. This situation opens opportunities for pathogens to spread within small islands. In the situation where the COVID-19 vaccine was not available, this article proposes four levels of action which are relevant to the protection of small islands and therefore contribute to the sustainability of the tourism industry in the small islands. These include: before pandemic, during the pandemic, post pandemic, and normal situation. The ability to design mechanisms post-pandemic is crucial. Developing and enhancing health system management in small islands is important; moreover, spatial tourism destination planning should be integrated in tourism planning in small islands. Promoting and strengthening community support and participation is crucial to minimize pandemic threats. In the normal situation, promoting the best practice of tourist, community, and environmental relationships is important in small islands through ecotourism. Ecotourism stresses a high quality of tourism programs and tourist-host interactions within the carrying capacity of islands and therefore contributes significantly to minimize pandemic diseases.