The Art Market of Senggigi has many interesting goods available for sale and is in a strategic location. So why is this market, which mostly sells traditional items from Lombok, short of visitors? By Andre Syahreza.

The Senggigi Art Market is a lonely market, despite its strategic position.
This 9900m2 market is established between two big hotels, the Sheraton Senggigi and the Intan Laguna. Behind the market is a beautiful stretch of Senggigi beach, and opposite is a beautiful night vista of colourful lights sparkling on a distant hill.

A variety of public transport vehicles pass by on the main road in front of the market, including cidomos and taxis. Tourists also busily pass to and fro on the footpaths.

For tourists who would like to collect some special items from Lombok, the Art Market of Senggigi also has more than enough to offer. The market consists of 16 building units, each unit comprising two shops. Ten units have been set aside for shops, the rest for the restaurants. It means that there are 20 shops altogether, all selling traditional souvenir items.

Only very few people, however, seem to have time to spare to visit the art market. A small number of visitors are present during its regular opening hours, and, except on certain special occasions, customers neglect the stalls.

Before the establishment of the market, vendors wandered freely along the crowded road of Senggigi. They did whatever they thought was necessary to attract business, offering a variety of traditional souvenir items from Lombok between dawn and dusk. Starting from 1990 and up until 1994 the number of the vendors increased enormously.

The local government was not impressed with the situation, and was pleased when a private company suggested turning the state-owned land into a traditional market place. On the anniversary of the Nusa Tenggara Barat province, on 18 December 1994, the first Art Market of Senggigi was officially opened and the street sellers officially ceased business.

The Art Market was actually once very popular, especially in the early days after its opening. The numbers of visitors soon decreased, however, and then the monetary crisis in Indonesia had a particularly severe impact on the market’s trade. Edi Daud, the market’s manager, has described how dramatic that change has been. "The number of visitors coming to the market in one day can now easily counted (because there are so few - ed). Now this market has a peak number of visitors only on certain occasions, mainly during holiday periods."

An owner of a kios (a small shop) selling clothing items gives one explanation for these problems, "Actually, many visitors are interested in the things available here. However, when they want to buy them, they have to think twice because the commodities sold here are not as cheap (as those available from the street vendors - ed.). There is actually no shortage of visitors, which is shown by our ability to survive here. If there were really no visitors, what would be the use of remaining here? But to say that the market stalls are regularly visited by many is not really true either."

The establishment of the art market could not guarantee the termination of the vendors’ business activities along the roadsides. This is easily understandable, because to have an access even to a small space at the Art Market would cost them a reasonable amount of money. But many also seem to feel much more secure in selling their items along the side of the road, particularly as it is possible to charge what they like for articles without worrying about tax and rent. This has undoubtedly affected patronage of the Senggigi Art Market.

Unlike the Art Market, the restaurants operating at the back part of the complex, which directly face the beach, all have fairly stable business and relatively regular visitors. Those small cafes start getting their initial visits at about noon, and customers continue to come until late evening, some even serving their guests until 12.00 midnight. The back yard of the market has a lovely view of the Senggigi beach, which is particularly beautiful at night. The sight and sound of waves crashing on shore under beams of moonlight provides a peaceful atmosphere that is appreciated by many.

Perhaps one day soon, now that hopes are high for a positive economic future for Indonesia as a whole, the Senggigi Art Markets might also find a renewed prosperity.

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