The Dream of Becoming a Tourism Village

KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA

Visitors sit in a tent in De Loano, Sedayu village, Loano district, Purworejo regency, Central Java, Tuesday (15/10/2019). This is part of the ecotourism site developed by state forest company Perum Perhutani and the Borobudur Authority Agency. The tourist attraction is equipped with various facilities for visitors.

Becoming a tourism village is the dream of many villages in the country. At least, that was what I observed when I worked in partnership with a number of villages.

The success stories of a number of tourism villages, such as Ponggok village in Klaten, Pujon Kidul village in Malang, and Sade village in Central Lombok, have motivated and inspired them. In 2021, the Tourism village Association (Asidewi) reported that around 1,838 out of a total of 83,381 villages (subdistricts) in the country had become tourism villages.

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The tourism sector has broad upstream and downstream linkages. Therefore, it is expected that tourism villages can improve the rural economy.

The Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry also seems to be serious in promoting tourism villages. The ministry even expected that tourism could help the country’s villages to recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ministry has promised to help promote existing tourism villages and introduce an application that can be accessed through the internet. In 2017, the ministry initiated tourism village pilot projects in 10 locations across the country.

The ministry also conducted a comprehensive study on developing tourism villages and other related matters as presented in “Tourism Villages: Developing Villages by Utilizing Cultural Potential” (Susilo et al, 2018), which discussed the tourism potential of Banyuroto village in Salaman, Magelang.

KOMPAS/TATANG MULYANA SINAGA

Asep Gunawan, 49, a screen-printing businessman, displays his paintings in the Muararajeun Sablon tourism village in Cihaurgeulis, Bandung city, West Java, on July 19 (19/7/2020). Such paintings have a higher sale value than ordinary screen-printing products.

A number of academic studies and surveys have also been conducted on the development of tourism villages. This article explores the aspects that can be improved in villages that aspire to become tourism villages, from a visitor's perspective.

The two aspects that are often forgotten by village-level decision-makers are the arrangement of tourist attractions and the provision of proper public facilities.

Looking for Uniqueness

Visitors to tourism villages generally expect to find unique things that they do not find in their daily lives, and not just rural landscapes, but also the local cuisines of the villages.

In the case of our partner villages, they have valuable tourist attractions such as waterfalls and lakes. However, they have not been managed properly. Some residents operate boats and rent them to visitors for sailing around the lake. Bamboo huts are also available at tourist attractions, complete with stalls that provide food and drink.

However, the menu items on offer are familiar to visitors: instant noodles, bakso (meatballs), and packaged drinks. In addition to the types of food and beverages, waste management at tourist attractions also needs to be improved. This is quite challenging, because it is related to the bad habits of local residents in disposing waste.

Kompas/Ferganata Indra Riatmoko

Tourists take part in a river tour organized by village-owned enterprise Barokah Sejahtera at Gono River, Treko village, Mungkid, Magelang, Central Java, on Nov. 4. The development of the tourism business has resulted in job opportunities for the local residents.

A tourism village does not have to be like Sade in Central Lombok, which is well established, but can start from simple things. Some time ago, we found a food stall near a waduk (embankment) that served Nasi Urap (steamed vegetable salad with coconut dressing) and Nasi Pecel (rice with cooked vegetables and peanut sauce) that used local produce, and wader goreng (fried fish) wrapped in banana leaf. The beverage selection did not include only fresh coconut water, but also empon empon (spice-infused water) using ingredients like ginger, lemongrass, and oranges.

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During the pandemic, some loyal customers are “gowesers”, members of the cycling community. While resting in a bamboo hut with a view of the lake, the cyclists ate the local food and drinks. Weekends are “harvest time” for the owners of the food stall, as the number of guests doubles compared to weekdays. A number of stall owners have to recruit neighbors to help serve guests on the weekends.

Many guests have complained about the lack of public facilities, especially public toilets. Clean toilets are an absolute must. The different habits of urban people and village residents in terms of toilet use can lead to different standards of hygiene and cleanliness.

Kompas/ Defri Werdiono

A tour manager walking along the Sumbersuko Forest Park in Sumbersuko village, Wagir district, Malang regency, East Java, on Friday (5/1). This 1.8 hectare forest tourism site is a pine forest belonging to the local Perhutani. Uniquely, this forest uses energy from a micro hydro power generator to light up the forest tourism area which is located far away from the electricity network.

We once assisted in providing public toilets to a village, complete with a garden. Apart from assisting with its physical development, we also introduced the residents to proper hygiene in using toilets.

The development of village tourism should not always use top-ranked tourism villages as a benchmark. Just start from simple things and improve them gradually. Villagers should be given the time to learn to be good hosts who realize that visitors want things that are different from their everyday lives.

FE UNPAR

Siwi Nugraheni

The unique atmosphere and environment of villages need to be complemented by the appropriate behavior of the host, such as in managing waste properly and providing proper toilets. As one friend said, “The village itself is beautiful. To attract [visitors], there is no need to overdress it, just clean it."

SIWI NUGRAHENI is a lecturer at the Parahyangan Catholic University School of Economics.

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi).