Welcome to SOLAH – Lombok’s Community for Sustainable Tourism
Tourism is one of Lombok’s greatest opportunities — but it must also be a shared responsibility. By coming together as a community — locals, businesses, and visitors — we can use tourism as a force for good: strengthening livelihoods, honouring traditions, and caring for the island we all share.
That’s why SOLAH exists — to make tourism in Lombok work for everyone.
What is Sustainable Tourism?
The United Nations defines sustainable tourism as tourism that considers its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, balancing the needs of visitors, the tourism industry, the environment and host communities.
Sustainable tourism is not just about protecting the environment. It considers the three interconnected areas of sustainability: environmental, social and economic.
- Environmental — reducing pollution and waste, conserving water and energy, and protecting ecosystems and biodiversity.
- Social — respecting local culture, protecting heritage, providing fair and safe employment, and ensuring tourism benefits local communities.
- Economic — creating local jobs and business opportunities, supporting local suppliers, and ensuring more tourism income stays and circulates within the destination.
For Lombok, this means asking: Where does the money go? Who benefits? What happens to our water, waste and natural resources? Are local cultures respected? Are tourism workers treated fairly? And will Lombok’s beaches, forests, reefs and communities remain healthy for the next generation?
Sustainable tourism recognises that tourism depends on healthy communities and healthy ecosystems. Lombok’s beaches, coral reefs, rice fields, forests, villages, food traditions and culture are not simply attractions—they are living systems and livelihoods. Tourism businesses and visitors have a responsibility to protect the resources they depend on.
No single business, organisation or government can make Lombok’s tourism sustainable alone.
Hotels, restaurants, tour operators, farmers, craftspeople, transport providers, communities, government, NGOs, researchers and travellers are all part of the same tourism system. What one part of the industry does affects the others.
That is why sustainable tourism in Lombok should ultimately be about collaboration. The goal is not perfect tourism. It is a tourism industry that continuously learns, measures its impact, takes responsibility and improves.
What is 'Leakage'?
Imagine you spend $1000 on your holiday in Lombok. UNEP estimates show that tourism leakage can reach 70% in Thailand and even higher. With a 70% tourism leakage rate, around $700 could leave the local economy. For example, some of that money may go to international booking platforms such as Booking.com or Airbnb, foreign investors living abroad, overseas tour operators, imported food and drinks, or products purchased from suppliers outside Lombok.
For Lombok, this means that tourism growth does not automatically mean that local communities receive a fair share of the benefits. This is particularly relevant in destinations where local communities may have fewer financial resources to invest in and own tourism businesses.
Tourism leakage is about asking: of every $1000 a tourist spends, how much actually stays in Lombok?
In Lombok, supporting locally owned businesses and building stronger connections between tourism, local workers and suppliers can help ensure that more of the money tourists spend stays on the island and benefits local communities. Check out Peta Kami and Panduan Perjalanan to Support Local!
What are Sustainable Certifications?
You may already recognise sustainability certifications such as Green Key, Green Globe, EarthCheck and Travelife. A sustainability certification is an independent, third-party assessment that verifies whether a tourism business, meets a defined set of sustainability standards. These standards may cover environmental, social and economic issues, such as waste, water and energy use, working conditions, cultural protection and benefits to local communities.
However, not all certifications are the same. Each scheme has its own criteria, assessment process and level of verification. Some are tourism-specific, while others, such as B Corp, assess a company’s wider social and environmental performance. LEED, meanwhile, focuses specifically on the sustainability of buildings and may be relevant to hotels and resorts.
Even among certifications, quality can vary. Some have rigorous standards, transparent assessment processes and regular independent audits, while others have been criticised for weak requirements or limited verification. Currently adoption among tourism businesses in Lombok has so far been limited.
Put simply: true certification involves an independent third party checking whether a business meets a recognised standard. The credibility of a certification depends on what is assessed, how evidence is verified and how independent and robust the process is.