Tourism Villages Continue to Grow as Alternative Tourism

Alternative tourism is currently a trend for tourists. Alternative tourism is a tourism concept that is more friendly to nature and local people, which cannot be obtained when visiting ordinary tourist destinations.

Therefore, tour packages that promote culture, nature, and something unique from certain areas are in high demand. One of them is by visiting tourist villages.

Tourism village is part of sustainable tourism development and is one of the programs of the Government of the Republic of Indonesia which is expected to accelerate the revival of tourism and trigger economic growth.

However, not every village can be turned into a tourist village, because at least 3 components are needed to build it. The first component is to look at the tourism potential available. Here the village apparatus must have a clear database of land, location, area and how the ecosystem can help develop tourist destinations later.

The next component is to look at the interest and readiness of the community towards the development of local tourist destinations. The tourist village will be very developed if it is managed by the village itself, the need for an organization that specifically takes care of the tourist village is needed to be sustainable and involve parties who determine the direction of the tourist village.

The last component is the concept of a tourist village which must be unique. With the concept or idea of ​​a different tourist village, it will be a prominent selling point among tourist destinations in other areas.

The formation of the concept of a tourist village can be sharper if it is combined with the mapping of the area that was carried out at the beginning.

If mapped, there are 4 levels of tourist villages as below:

• Stub. Still in the form of potential and the absence of tourist visits. In addition, the facilities and infrastructure are still very limited, with the level of public awareness not yet growing.
• Develop. Although it is still in the form of potential, it has begun to be looked at for further development.
• Forward. The community is already aware of tourism with indicators that they can manage tourism businesses, including using village funds to develop tourism potential. The area has also been visited by many tourists, including from foreign countries.
• Independent. There has been tourism innovation from the community, the tourist destinations have also been recognized by the world with standardized facilities and infrastructure. In addition, the management is pentahelix collaborative.

In line with the Regulation of the Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia Number 29 of 2015, the development of rural-based tourism (tourism villages) will drive tourism economic activity in rural areas which will prevent the urbanization of rural communities to cities.

The development of rural tourism will encourage nature conservation (landscapes, rice fields, rivers, lakes) which in turn will have an impact on reducing global warming. The tourism village program continues to grow as alternative tourism is expected to be able to make a positive contribution to community development.