Yogyakarta - Yogyakarta is intensifying its efforts to expand tourism by establishing tourism villages because tourists seem to be bored with the available tourist sites. Unfortunately, from the existing 80 villages, 65 villages in Yogyakarta are not ready to receive tourists who expect to see life in rural setting.
“Not only international tourists want to spend time in these villages but also local tourists from the cities,” said Tazbir, the Yogyakarta Tourism Office Chief, yesterday.
Tourism villages are worth the promotion and are ready to receive tourists, for instance villages which have the kuntul bird in Ketingan, Mlati, Sleman. Other tourism villages can also be found in Kebonagung, Imogiri, Bantul, Kampung Dipowinatan, Mergangsan sub district, Yogyakarta.
Dipowinatan tourism village for instance, offers a tour of the village and a visit to a traditional Javanese family home. The guests will wear Javanese traditional costume and be offered the specific local food.
So far, the promotional material on these villages focus on the uniqueness of the village. When more people visit the village, the economy in Yogyakarta will automatically improve more equitably. “The economic cycle in the tourism sector is very fast in the cities, especially around Malioboro,” Tazbir said.
To support the program, the government has prepared funding to develop tourism villages totaling Rp 200 million. The budget is allocated for training and guiding the community in preparing their communities and their homes for visitors to manage the environment. This is to allow the people to manage their villages as best they can so that it can meet the requirement to qualify as a proper tourism village.
Edwina Ismedi Himna, the Yogyakarta Association of The Indonesian Tour and Travel Agency chief, admits that Yogyakarta’s tourism has become boring for many tourists. They are looking to see life in the villages. “We need to develop and manage tourism villages,” he said.
Source: http://www.tempointeractive.com
