DESTINATIONS

Senggigi Beachon the island's west coast, has become Lombok's de facto tourism centre. It boasts a diversity of tourist accommodation ranging from budget 'homestays' to five star hotels, is to Lombok as Kuta is to Bali, although it is nowhere near as busy and its beach is much calmer.

Apart from Senggigi, Lombok has the Gilis - the three islands (Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan) which hug Lombok's north-west coast and which, due to their relatively intact reefs, have become popular places for snorkling, diving, and even surfing.

Lombok's greatest tourism potential lies in its natural environment. After the Gilis and Senggigi Beach, the island's premier tourist attractions include Mount Rinjani and its Lake Segara Anak, located in Central Lombok. And Kuta on Lombok's south coast is despite its name more akin to Bali's Nusa Dua. Kuta Lombok, at present still, but for Novotel Lombok, a dry, dusty and empty expanse of land, is the site that has been chosen by the Lombok Tourism Development Corporation to become a strip of five star hotels along Lombok's own Kuta Beach which remains pristine, at least for the moment.

Such are the destinations Lombok's tourism industry is working hard to promote in their efforts to sell the island as an alternative to a 'now ruined' Bali. And industry figures claim that the island harbours many more yet-to-be-developed tourist attractions. Due to a lack of investment funds and relatively poor infrastructure, they say, Lombok remains underdeveloped.

ARTS AND CULTURE

Discussions with players on Lombok's tourism industry indeed reveal their firm confidence in the great potential of the island's natural environment - particularly considering its 'pristine' condition - to attract tourists. The local arts and culture, however, have a much poorer reputation than Lombok's natural surroundings. Unlike that of Bali, industry officials appear to have little faith in the sale-ability of Sasak culture. "There is an element of monotony, a lack of variety, in the Sasak arts. The condition of local culture is a long way off being suitable as a tourism commodity," laments Adianto.