ANALYSIS OF ECOTOURISM ATTRACTIVENESS MANAGEMENT IN SUNGAI WAIN PROTECTED FOREST

• Main Authors: , Sukristiyono, , Ir. Suryanto, MSP
• Format: Theses and Dissertations NonPeerReviewed
• Published: [Yogyakarta] : Universitas Gadjah Mada 2013
• Subjects: ETD
• Online Access: https://repository.ugm.ac.id/118571/; http://etd.ugm.ac.id/index.php?mod=penelitian_detail&sub=PenelitianDetail&act=view&typ=html&buku_id=58546
• Institution: Universitas Gadjah Mada

When developing eco-tourism for protected forest, it is essential that primary objectives of the protected forest be clearly understood and that eco-tourism development tempers with these objectives. There is need for protection and management of the natural resources. Eco-tourism in Sungai Wain Protected Forest (SWPF) is a secondary use but if properly managed, it can provide some income for local government and communities surrounding area. Therefore, Balikpapan government established a board to manage the SWPF, including managing ecotourism in SWPF. In recent years, the number of tourists who came did not increase as expected. Based on existing conditions, SWPF has a high tourist attraction. This condition raises questions about the underlying problem. This research is intended to find out the reason why eco-tourism in SWPF is not able to attract tourists to visit, and what are the factors that cause it. The most of the serious factor behind the question is lacking information about eco-tourism attractiveness in SWPF. Thus the researcher asked the question as a hypothesis in this research, that is: "Can SWPF eco-tourism issue be solved by enhancing SWPF attractiveness?� This hypothesis will be translated into several research questions, which are (1) Whether, the addition and capacity building of staff about eco-tourism is required by Sungai Wain Protected Forest Management Unit, (2) Whether, organizing the Working Group can push the local government to give policy priority to SWPF, (3) Whether, better facilities and standard maintenance operation in SWPF should be proposed, (4) Whether, inviting the international funding to boost research in SWPF can advertise the SWPF�s potential. This hypothesis will be examined by stakeholder interview survey. This research reached to the conclusion that the improvement of the tourism division is the key entry point of SWPF Management Unit performance, and for this the improvement of human resource capacity in the tourism division needs to be resolved first. Human resources were found out to be the most basic point before running other activities. Along with capacity development of eco-tourism division needed to have organizational improvement that gives more focus on eco-tourism issues, the specific action of duties and authority, and supplemental allocation of budget to solve the problem of eco-tourism in