The increased interest of local residents working to earn a living may mean that the burgeoning tourist industry in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) is the province with impact on the village economies.
More and more residents of Sesela village in Gunung Sari district, West Lombok, who used to work as dockworkers, migrant workers, and field hands, are now switching jobs to become craftsmen and souvenir sellers with significantly higher incomes.
"Nowadays, many villagers sell their handiwork of their own home. Many of them have foreign customers," 45-year-old resident Ahmad Sesela Dole told The Jakarta Post on Travel Sesela Art Market on Sunday.
The art was created by the local government in mid-2012. Located just four kilometers from the popular Senggigi Beach, the place is often crowded by travelers looking for locally made artwork to bring home back.
Ahmad, who has worked as a craftsman for over 20 years, sells its products in his shop called Lombok Collection. The majority of its goods are carvings.
The art community's head, Iwan said that one in eight residents of Sesela, of which more than 8,000 inhabitants, were craftsmen.
"The engraving art here is a long held tradition. Nearly can do. The art is passed down from generation to generation, all young people," he said.
owever, according to Ahmad, the sale of the artwork is not always smooth sailing.
"Back in the 1980s, it was a little harder to sell our crafts. We needed them to Bali and there they sell" called Ahmad.
The island of Lombok is Bali's neighbor to the east and it was often nothing more than an afterthought for Bali-bound travelers in the past.
As Lombok's tourism industry gained more prominence in the 1990s, however, began the local artisans sell their products on their own island.
The local craft market popularity grew in the early 2000s, but declined significantly as a result of the Bali bombing in 2002.
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