Royal Sembahulun Story
ROYAL SEMBAHULUN
Owner
My name is Royal Sembahulun. I am the owner of Lombok Green Nature. I work in the tour and travel business; besides that, I am an activator who has been active in campaigning for environmental, social, and economic issues in West Nusa Tenggara since 2004. In 2003, I joined the Nature Adorer Organization, which focuses on environmental conservation. The organization appointed or chose me as its secretary in 2006. As I progressed, I began to consider merging the environmental sector with tourism. First, as a tour guide, I went along in tourism and did most of the trekking to Mount Rinjani. This marks the beginning of my understanding of the tourism industry and its benefits for changing society and the economy.
In 2008, I initiated a significant movement by founding an organization named Sembalun Community Development Center (SCDC).
I am working at the Community Development Center alongside a few youths from Sembalun. Since its inception, I have served as the organization’s director. We focus on environmental, social, economic, and non-formal education for the locals. We initiated volunteer work and aimed to enhance the skills of the locals. Volunteers taught the Free English Course as one of the fundamentals to aid in the development of tourism in Sembalun and West Nusa Tenggara
Free English class course
started in 2008 and created many professional guides
Teaching English at a Local School
Guide and Porters Sembalun
In 2010, I advocated for the rights of laborers in Mount Rinjani to receive fair treatment from certain tour operators who utilize their services. The act of caring was focused on increasing pay and limiting the weight of goods carried by porters. I received recognition for promoting tourism through my activities as a tourism activator. In 2015, the governor of West Nusa Tenggara recognized me as a good tourism activator. In 2018, the Tourism Ministry of the Indonesian Republic recognized me as an “appreciator of local businesses in the homestay sector.” I am aware that most businessmen who exploit this nature are still far away from the sustainable concept and appear to be having more trouble with environmental sustainability.
Developing tourism will increase the economy for the locals and change the social class by creating a new field of work that can decrease the poverty rate. However, it should not be confused with environmental sustainability, as evidenced by the presence of trash in popular tourist destinations. So, everyone who works in this industry (tour and travel) must understand how to maintain the environment for sustainable tourism. For these reasons, I had to change the name of my company from Royal Rinjani Tour to Lombok Green Nature.
Read also: Information Trekking Rinjani
received awards from the government
in December 2018 received awards from the tourism ministry in Jakarta, category appreciation as a driver of community homestay business.
What I have done?
- Campaign for environmental conservation.
- Motivate and build the tourism sector as an alternative to increasing local income.
- We organized a free English course for kids (students), youths, and porters who want to be guides. We work with an NGO called Fourth World Love from the US and run a volunteering (natives) program with a local teacher who teaches at the Sembalun Community Development Center (SCDC).
- I have organized some training to increase the skills of porters, guides, and tour operators.
- Fight for labor rights (Porter and Guide).
- Motivate the locals to organize the objects around them according to their culture and local wisdom.
- We collaborated with Google Pacific to investigate some tourism destinations around Lombok and provide training on how to use Google Business.
- We engage in eco-tourism and advocate for organic farming to foster sustainable farming practices and generate healthful products.