Overcoming local human resources barriers in tourism industry : Case study on West Nusa Tenggara Indonesia

Tourism industry in Indonesia is hindered by barriers in its development. There are internal barriers (denial from immigrant, old tradition) and also external barriers (new skill, Covid-19 pandemic) that affect its governance. All of them stem from human resources problems that should be overcome immediately. Using funding from the Ministry of Tourism, this research aims to address said barriers and overcome human resources problems in the tourism industry, especially in Nusa Tenggara Barat. The researchers who are based in Tourism Polytechnic Lombok seek the answers from vocational higher education overview. The answers are gathered by summarizing from the Focus Group Discussion process and also benchmarking with another tourism polytechnic in Indonesia. The results are as follows: (1) NTB, as a unique combination of the tourism industry, has big potential and upcoming modern destination (Mandalika) which should become better in the future, (2) Internal barriers factor can be overcome by optimizing local human resources, (3) In problem-solving of external barrier factor, Tourism Polytechnic should also provide IT skills to support e-tourism implementation, and (4) Human resources problem in the tourism industry has a root cause in early vocational higher education which holds important factors in overcoming the problems