Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta is rich with culture and full of tourism potential. In particular, Kampung Wisata Cokrodiningratan. On Saturday, February 9th 2019 Project Child Indonesia with the community of Kampung Jetisharjo RW 06, held a Focus Group Discussion about community based tourism. Around 17 people came and took part actively in the discussion. The discussion was facilitated by Surayah Ryha, the Executive Director of Project Child Indonesia.
The Focus Group Discussion started at 20.00 WIB. For the first session, PCI and the community discussed about the definition of “Wisata Kampung”. On the second session, they discussed about the potential that their village have. The Focus Group Discussion managed to map out several tourism potential as well. There’s a potential in nature, since Kampung Jetisharjo RW 06 located on the river bank of Sungai Code. They also have potential in culture and food, such as Jathilan, and Pasar Kuliner (Food Festival). The session continued as the community tried to map out the weaknesses that their village have. Some of the participant expressed their concern towards keeping commitment and spirit in pursuing a community based tourism. Others share concerned in English language ability. The last session, the community talked about opportunities and challenges that they may have to face for community based tourism.
This Focus Group Discussion was meant to introduce the concept of community based tourism and participatory tourism to the community. By implementing community based tourism, the community learns to take active part in managing tourism in their own village. Furthermore, by implementing participatory tourism, it means that the tourist that came to Kampung Jetisharjo will take part actively in the villagers live. The tourist that come to Kampung Jetisharjo won’t be only doing sightseeing, but they will engage with the locals and participate in various activities with them as well.
The next step after this Focus Group Discussion is establishing a community based tourism organization, or in Bahasa it’s called Kelompok Sadar Pariwisata (Pokdarwis). Pokdarwis will be the platform for the community to explore and start their community based tourism. It is also expected that by establishing Pokdarwis, the community could gain trainings, fundings, etc from the government.
